My Hero Academia : Delinquents Class (an SYOC story)
by ThalioTP
Summary: "Not all children born from evil are made evil."; Principal Nedzu's words on U.A. High's new program: the Heroics Reforming Initiative. A chance for those with no chance at all from their backgrounds as troublemakers and offspring of criminals. To some, this is their only chance of repentance and sanctuary.(REBOOT)(submissions closed:for now)
1. Pilot

**Principal Nezu's Office- 1:30 p.m.**

* * *

U.A. High.

A school designed for molding the future of the teenage members of Japanese society into becoming the heroes that will one day be the ones to stomp out evil and save the lives of millions, inspiring the generations after to follow suite with their endeavors.

And a small rat/bear-like creature, dressed in a suit and tie, is the principal.

Nedzu's little soft steps tip toed on the cold marble floors spread across his office. The white furred mammal went back and forth with piles of documents on top of paperwork. A usual afternoon as principal of the prestigious school U.A.

There was a brief thud that was followed by Nedzu's soft paws clapping his hands off of dusts. These old documents were planned to be thrown out before the new semester of U.A starts, and Nedzu would be lying if he didn't say that he had been slacking off.

"There we go, all done." Nedzu said in relief.

When he was walking back to the storage room, planning to check if he missed something, he stopped right before the window of his office. "I must say, this day is looking more and more pleasant." Said the small rat/bear-like creature.

"Another year is upon us for the youth of tomorrow to make the ascension into becoming heroes. It almost seems like it's becoming redundant at this point to keep talking about it since that's what this school was designed for." He continued, looking up at the ceiling. His hands snaked on top of his desk, where a small cup of hot tea sat comfortably along with mountains of papers.

"I do enjoy my job, but I feel like something more can be done than just accepting the best of the best..." Principal Nedzu said aloud as he walked away from the windows and back towards his desk, sitting in the large revolving chair that was behind it.

"I don't want U.A. to be just the best school for young and impressionable children to become heroes, I feel like we can do more... Be more..." He continued. "Hmmmmmm..."

Suddenly, a page came in from an intercom on Nezu's desk, prompting the humanly dressed animal to press the button to answer. "Hello? What is it, Akane?"

"Hello, principal, this is just a reminder to tell you to look for those student admission files for the upcoming semester. The files should be in that filing cabinet next to the wall on the right in front of your desk along with previous student records." said an assistant named Akane over the pager.

"Ahhh yes, thanks for the reminder." he said as he moved his finger away from the pager. Standing up, he moved away from his desk to and begun to walk to the filing cabinet.

But as he was walking away, another call got in. Automatically, the pager opened the line. "I'm sorry principal, but I forgot to remind you that Hisaki Adachi will be arriving shortly to your office." Akane's mildly static voice said.

"Adachi again, huh? I wonder what he wants this time." He stretched his arm out to grab the top cabinet but was struggling to pull it out from its currently closed state. Not helping the fact was the large height difference between the cabinet and the smaller Nedzu.

"Ugh... come on already." He said as he struggled to reach the top drawer. "Why couldn't I have been born with a Quirk that made me taller, not just smarter... oh wait, than I wouldn't have been named the principal for the school now, would I?"

At his wits end, he jumped in the air, attempting to grab the handle on the cabinet until he was finally able to clutch the top drawer with his paw.

"Gotcha!- Oh no...Ahhh!" After grabbing on the cabinets top handle, the extra weight of Principal Nedzu and the cabinet begun to cause the cabinet to fall forward and on top of the principal, sticking him underneath. The drawers, following suite, had the begun to come slightly open and caused folders filled with papers to begin to spill out and land all over the floor of his office.

"...well this is quite the pickle." said Nedzu as he looked at the mess of documents and manila folders covering the floor.

As he was picking himself up, there was a knock on the office door. "Principal Nedzu? It's me, Hisaki, I heard some noise that made me wonder if you're alright."

"Yes! Yes! I'm alright, nothing I can't handle. I can clean this mess myself." said Principal Nezu in a reassuring tone as he pulled himself out from under the cabinet. "Come in! Come in! I supposed there's something important that you want to show me?"

The door slid open, and showed a well-built young man with quite the jet black hair, slick backed like a groomed lion's mane. He wore a black suit and tie with a white shirt under it. There was a stubble under his hard look, and a frown came when he caught a sight of Nedzu. There was a document folder wedged between his arms.

"This is gonna take me awhile." said Nedzu as he begun to pick up papers. "Ok this is from a few years ago, this is from the current semester, and these are the upcoming student files here..." He said as he was trying to sort all the papers back in their proper folders.

Nedzu then turned to Hisaki with his hands full of folders. "What was it that you wanted to talk to me about?"

Hisaki, while picking up the remaining folders, said, "It wasn't me, my superiors wanted to propose something." He said in a grunted voice.

The both of them began putting back the useless folders on the cabinet. "Ah, I remember you saying that you began working in a private jail?"

Hisaki nodded, his eyes stern as he faced the small mammal. "Yes. And there is an issue that the owner would like you to see."

Nedzu hummed. "Very well. Why don't you take a seat? I will occupy you shortly, right after I finish organizing these folders.

As he was finished putting the folders back in, he went to his desk where he sat across from Hisaki. Something caught his eye, and it was a file that Hisaki brought with him. It was the same as every other folder stuffed into the filing cabinet but it had a large set of letters posted on it that spelled: "H.R.I."

"Well this is peculiar...this is a U.A file obviously, but I haven't ever seen this file before." Nedzu remarked. Which made Hisaki pushed the folder closer towards Nedzu, urging him to read it. "How are you by the way, Hisaki?"

Hisaki's stern face stayed frozen, but there was softness in his voice. "I am quite alright."

"Still the poker-faced man you used to be, huh?" Nedzu chuckled.

Hisaki, whose serious look never seemed to change, had his mouth split into a decent smile. "I can surprise you."

As Nedzu began reading the files inside, Hisaki began explaining his situation further. "I have worked as a prison warden for about fifteen years now, but there has been a rise of juvenile criminals lately. The owners are actually worried about the rise of criminality at such young age, and thus they decided to consult someone in search for an advice to handle this problem." Hisaki explained, before adding, "He gave us this. It haven't been tried before, but he said it's worth the experiment."

"Hmmmmm... Huh...Well this is...interesting...Very interesting..." He said as he scanned the papers, thoroughly looking at every word and detail written. He turned his attention back to Hisaki. "And who did they consult? Surely they didn't find this document in their private prison filing cabinets."

"The last principal was the one they consulted to." Hisaki told him, earning a surprised look from the current principal. "Apparently, this program was planned years ago, when scientists hypothesized that Quirk mutations manifested at the age of 6. They planned this program in case of teenagers began using their enhancements for the incorrect purposes."

"Now this...is just what I was thinking about!" Nedzu said aloud. But then, his ecstatic smile fell. "And I suppose you'd like to transfer all your underage prisoners in U.A's care?"

"No, no." Hisaki simply said. "The owners proposed something as close as 12 people, for a test run."

Nedzu had his smile back. "I'll have to say, this is a very good concept. Wow, the owners want to give direct funding too!"

"I... I'll have to be honest, I think this idea is too far-fetched." Hisaki told him. "But it's a nice thought, even though the juvenile prisoners I deal with are much harder to educate than they look."

"Hmm… yes… but I think we can work well with 12 children. And also, think about what would happen if this experiment turns out as a success. There will be dozens of schools made to reform troubled children and young thugs, I always think that 'to avoid evil, one must be taught what it is'."

Hisaki scratched his stubble, before nodding in agreement. "I'll have your decision be informed to the directors."

"It was nice speaking to you again, Hisaki." And with a brief handshake, Hisaki bowed and made his leave with the paper left in Nedzu's office.

Nedzu placed the H.R.I folder inside his desk, and begun calling his secretary.

"Yes, Principal?" said Akane through the intercom.

"Akane, can you make some phone calls for me? I got some people I want to discuss something with." said Nedzu with a small smile on his face. He thought for a second before calling his secretary again, "And tell Hisaki Adachi, to come meet me tomorrow in my office at 9:30 p.m."

"Will do, Mr. Principal, sir."

* * *

 **Principal Nedzu's Office- 4:23 p.m.**

* * *

Inside the office of Principal Nedzu's, there were several well-dressed individuals taking seats on the couches and chairs located within his office. The sun sat on the sky, near the horizon, signaling that evening is here.

One was a very scruffy looking man with a bored face and a grey scarf named Shota Aizawa or "Eraser Head" to some, another was an overblown looking man with blonde hair, a pair of sunglasses and a small moustache named "Present Mic," another was a spiky haired woman dressed in a business suit "Midnight," and another was a man dressed in a large scale astronauts outfit named "Thirteen."

"I'm glad to see all you Heroes were able to come on such short notice, and be able to wear something other than your supersuits. I see we are missing someone though." said Principal Nedzu while checking his watch.

"He is late, isn't he?" said Aizawa with his leg up and his arms crossed, referring to the missing person.

Suddenly, a sound of loud and fast footsteps begun to be heard by the people in the room as they turned their attention to the door. The speedy footsteps continued to get louder and louder until a large man with blonde hair that has two strands standing upward, large muscles and an overly exaggerated smile on his face emerged from the doorway.

" **FRET NO MORE, MY AWAITING COMRADES! FOR I, ALL MIGHT, AM HERE!** " Said the boisterous man named All Might. Very peculiar, how his face stays darkly shaded even though all the lights in the room are on.

"Nice of you to join us, but your about 11 minutes late for this meeting." said Thirteen calmly. This caused All Might to wince at the acknowledgment of his inability to arrive at the predetermined time and he sunk his head in partial shame for his lateness.

" **Sorry about that-** " suddenly a puff of smoke had over taken All Might's body until he had become a skeletal version of himself that was more smaller and brittle than his large form, hacking out blood from his mouth onto the floor of Principal Nedzu's office. "S-sorry...ugh...I spent a lot of time today...doing things that required my Hero form and I got tired on the way here." he continued while holding his chest.

"It's alright, All Might, take a rest." Proclaimed Nedzu as he offered him a seat, prompting the bony man to sit down.

"So why did you call us here?" All Might asked.

"Why I called you all here is a very peculiar reason indeed." Nezu said with a charming little smirk on his face.

"Please, just get to the point, I want to go home and sleep..." Aizawa complained.

"It's not even dinner time yet..." Midnight said in response. Her deadpan causes Aizawa to throw her a look.

"Sorry, I may as well cut to the chase than bother you all for too long." This response caused All Might to smirk.

 _"Thank you, Aizawa's complaining. I don't want to be here too long. Nedzu's rambling can cause even sloths to want to run as far away from him."_ thought All Might in his head.

"I want you all to look at these folders." Nedzu said as he placed a series of folders marked "H.R.I." on the table in front of the people in his office. Each one of them grabbing a copy. "And I want you all to take a moment to read these contents." Nedzu told them.

In response, the Heroes looked into the folders and begun to read some very interesting and yet, bizarre statements and ideas for a project called the "Heroics Reforming Initiative."

"Thoughts?" Principal Nedzu said curiously, and impatiently at the same time. "I just so happen to be offered to do a trial-run, and it turns out that the program was written by one of the original founders of our little high school. So I made copies."

"I can't really read this through my helmet. Can someone describe what's going on with these papers?" Thirteen asked in need of help.

"Well! Based on what it says, it looks like a schools itinerary for a reformations class!" Present Mic shouted and explained.

"A what?" Thirteen asked.

"Well I read it, but I don't really understand it much." Midnight stated, scratching her head. "'observation, and data collection, of delinquency in youth, and their interactions with one another under the circumstances of a common classroom', sounds like a reform school to me."

"This sounds a bit odd." Aizawa stated in conjecture. "We can't take in more students than the numbers we accepted to take in the entrance exam, much less 'juveniles who are recorded with past crimes, villainy affiliation, and domestic abuse, in which it affects greatly on their mental health'."

"In other words, it's basically a rehabilitation program for troubled youths. Are you planning to turn U.A. into a reform school Nedzu?" said All Might as he continued to look through the papers. In response, Nedzu continued to smile.

"Not exactly. Earlier today, I had a bit of an epiphany." this response from Nedzu prompted Aizawa to raise an eyebrow. "I love this school and all the students who come in here and make each and every day something special. Because every student who can just make it through the front door has already proven that they want to become a hero. That's what you call "resolve" or "desire" or something like that."

"But deep down inside my stomach, I don't want the U.A. to only be the school made for the sake of making new heroes of children who have shown potential early on. From the way our society works, if anyone has shown signs of negative traits early on in their youth, they typically don't make much of their lives in the later parts of their time on Earth. Chances are higher for them to become villains or petty criminals that get locked away inside penitentiaries with nothing more to look forward to than the smell of a cell." Nedzu monologued. "I had a detour when a certain someone offered this out of the blue."

"Ok? Then what more do you want U.A. to be?" asked Aizawa in curiosity.

"I want this school to not only be known for being the best school for heroics. I want to prove it can be a beacon of hope." said Nedzu as he looked at the Heroes with serious eyes.

"A beacon of hope?" Ms. Midnight asked.

"I think we could do this. I think we can make even more of a difference than what we do now. And this project idea I have found just might make that happen." Nedzu continued.

"Be more specific, principal. You sound like your rattling nonsense at this point." Aizawa stated bluntly.

"Here is what I want us to do: It will be a test, no doubt, but I think this might work. I want to assemble a class in the school comprised of young boys and girls who might lack futures. Deliquents, ne'er-do-wells, the offspring of real terrors and criminals. I want to assemble them into a class that will make them go from future Villains into future Heroes." Nedzu proclaims to the surprised group of Heroes.

Thirteen, Midnight and surprisingly, Present Mic were quiet, unsure of how to comprehend what they were hearing coming out the mouth of the U.A. Principal. Assembling a class, comprised of delinquents and possible future villains and teaching them how to be Heroes?

It almost sounded like the words of a mad man. Or in this case, a mad rat/bear/dog hybrid.

"It wouldn't work..." Aizawa spoke up in response to Nedzu's proclamation. "This school already is hard enough to even get in for the normal students, the ones that show maximum Hero potential and the rest that get in are put into general studies, business courses and the support groups."

"Am I to believe that we can seriously pull off rounding up a bunch of trouble makers and children that are the seeds of villains and make the statement that they can become heroes if they are just gonna end up wasting other people times?" Aizawa continued.

"I understand the concern you show, Aizawa. You make a point that can't be denied." Nedzu said acknowledging Aizawas intelligence. "But let me ask a serious question..." This statement caused the heroes to turn their attention back to Nedzu in intrigue.

"Let's say your parents were a pair of real supervillains and you were just some young man who just so happened to be their son. Do you think you would have wound up being "Eraser Head?"' Nezu stated, looking directly at Aizawa.

"..." Aizawa remained silent, the other heroes, including All Might, remained just the same, awaiting further words from the Principal. "Well?" Nezu stated.

"No. Even I wouldn't think about being a hero if my parents were a pair of villains." Aizawa stated with closed eyes and a neutral expression. "Your point?"

"Who is to say that isn't the same for these young men and women that currently attend middle schools or home schooling that grown up in poor neighborhoods, broken households or even the rare chance of being the son or daughter of a truly evil human being? Their Quirks and talents, gone to waste on "could have beens" or that mentality you displayed that they are...worthless because of their circumstances." Nedzu continued.

"Worthless...because of circumstances..." All Might thought in his head as the image of a young man with green hair, freckles and no Quirk to call his own emerged in his mind.

"I have a Quirk called "High Spec" and it has given me so much intelligence that I don't almost know what to do with it half the time. Makes you wonder just how dangerous I would have made the world if I didn't have a conscience." Nedzu stated to the intrigue of the Heroes sitting in front of him.

"Picture what all of you would have been like if you let your Quirks run haywire as children because you didn't think you could become a hero because of your background. Midnight, I'm pretty sure putting people to sleep with your Quirk would have made stealing from banks a lot easier for someone such as yourself." that statement caused Midnight to scratch her cheek in embarrassment at the possibility.

"Or how about you, Thirteen and your "Black Hole" Quirk. A lot of murder could be "getting away with" if circumstances led you down a nefarious path." Thirteen showed no response in reaction but kept looking at the principal.

"And I'd be afraid to find out what the peoples Symbol of Peace would be like as an enemy." Nedzu said looking straight at All Might whose face looked more than just serious.

"I want some approval by you as faculty. You won't be teaching them, this will be a secret to most of the school and the student body of the upcoming semester. I can find other professors outside the school to help with their enrollment and development." Nedzu stated to the Heroes. "Although, I am already set on a temporary homeroom teacher for the class, I am sure that this will be an opportunity to open new job vacancies."

"I think we can really make more of a difference than ever by being the school that doesn't just produce Heroes from untrained children. But also from the children that no one believes has that chance to be great." Nedzu stated as he moved over to his desk.

Nedzu then pulled out a contract from his desk. On the contract, it listed several lines for signing approval to the creation of the "Heroics Reforming Initiative" program. To seeing this contract, out of nervousness, none of the heroes reached forward to grab the pens and sign. Until one Hero, reached forward to grab a pen and signed his name down: "All Might."

"I want to believe this can work...Let's just say lately, I have been around some people that have changed things for me, and I am willing to believe anything nowadays. Hehe... plus I trust the school principals judgements, they typically don't fail." said All Might slightly weak and tired but reassuring to Nedzu's idea.

"Hey! If All Might thinks it can work! Then why not!?" Present Mic said before signing his name.

"Ok, I'll agree, I might find some new whipping boys and girls out of it if they fail." Midnight said with a smirk before signing her name.

"I guess I'll do it too." said Thirteen as he signed his name. All but one Hero has signed the approval document: Shota Aizawa.

"..." Aizawa just sat there on the couch, looking at the paper without saying a word. Until suddenly he took the paper and begun to write his name in. To the happiness of Principal Nedzu and smiles of her Hero co-workers.

"I'll take your word for it...but don't even think about putting me in charge of them..." Aizawa said as he grabbed a yogurt tube from his pocket and begun to walk away.

"Don't worry, you won't be involved at all, Mr. Aizawa." said Principal Nedzu with a smile on his face as Aizawa walked out the room.

"So what do you need us to do?" All Might asked the principal.

"The third party had already decided which of the individuals they have on record will be the subject of these experiments. I will give you a list of people you'll need to collect, the top 12 with the most potential." Nedzu explained as he picked up the approval paper from the table.

"Only 12!?" Present Mic shouted.

"Remember, this program is highly experimental. It's a first time attempt at something like this and we need to start small to even begin to make this work." explained Nedzu.

After that, the heroes began to take their leave and return to their homes for the rest of the evening until Principal Nedzu was the only one remaining in his office, looking out at the windows as the heroes walk out of U.A.

"A beacon of hope...because not all children born from evil are made evil...hehe, I might just write that on a T-shirt." Nedzu joked as he sipped tea while watching the sun set on the first day of a new beginning for U.A. High.

* * *

 **Hi, as you all know, this story is originally made by GiintokiSakata. And I am the co-author that aids him in writing and ideas.**

 **Sadly, due to the circumstances that GiintokiSakata cannot ignore, he had backed down from finishing this story.**

 **On his last chapter, there was a mention of the story being in adoption. Now, for all the people who already asked GiintokiSakata for a contract of this story, I'm sorry, I took it. I asked him and he lent it to me.**

 **Now, the first ten characters of the original story is already fixed and will be canon in this one. Their creators are GiintokiSakata himslef,** **keller75863548274483, PainX65, JackHammerMan, Hofund, Ultimate Hunter X, ThalioTP (myself), UnoriginalName, reven228 and Firealis. One last thank you to them for submitting their OCs. I'm sorry if I have not informed you of this reboot.**

 **There will be a few changes, including a new teacher, and two more spots at the OC table (1 male and 1 female).**

 **For those who want to submit their own OCs, please PM me after reading this author's note. Remember, only two spots available so you better be quick.**

 **We will introduce the main character next time, on My Hero Academia : Delinquents Class!**

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 **R &R**


	2. Voodoo in the Neighborhood

**Convenience Store- Musutafu, Japan, 3:30 p.m.**

* * *

It was a normal day in the spring. Roughly a week has passed since an incident involving a sludge villain, two Aldera Junior High school students and the legendary Hero: All Might had occurred with the portion of the city that was destroyed being rebuilt.

A small convenience store stood with small parking lots built around it. The blue and red sign, now worn out by the weather, was rotating clockwise before stopping abruptly, and starting again.

Two workers are currently working their shifts, although one of them seemed to be no more than fifteen.

"Hey Seiji! Get those sodas out of the back and get them to the coolers before this place gets packed!" Said a tall bald man with a large nose, sporting an apron, pants and a collared shirt.

"Sure boss! Just give me a sec!" Said a young boy named Seiji as he got up from behind the counter of the store, rushing to the back room to grab the sodas.

He stood 5'7, sporting brown messy hair that was held down by a black hair tie in the back, a green unbuttoned collared shirt with an orange uniform T-shirt underneath, a pair of jeans, and black and white sneakers.

"Ok where is it..." Seiji said as he searched for the containers in the backroom. Wiping off his bangs from his vision.

Meanwhile, behind the counter, the store manager was talking to a customer buying cigarettes.

"Can you believe All Might actually is in town now?" Said the customer.

"Hard to believe. Why would he come to this city of all places?" Said the store manager.

"I heard he got a job at the U.A. as a teacher."

"Really? Now that be interesting, the stories that guy must have to tell students probably would help those kids in the long run!" Said the store manager before turning to shout at Seiji from behind the backroom door. "Hey Seiji! Hurry up!"

"I'm trying dammit!" Seiji shouted through the door. Gritting his teeth while pulling a heavy box from the top shelf.

"Trying to do what? Not get hurt or actually looking for the inventory!?" The store manager barked.

"Hey, the kid ain't doing anything wrong, cut him some slack." Said the customer holding the cigarettes. Prompting the store manager to turn his attention back to the customer.

"I've been easier on him more times than you can count. The kid's Quirk causes more trouble than what he is worth." Explained the store manager.

In response, the customer had shrugged his shoulders and begun to walk away. As he left, a car pulled over on the front. Another man, wearing a purple hoodie with the hood up, a black t-shirt and black pants and shoes walked out of it after parked right outside. Bumping his shoulder before walking up to the counter.

The store owner looked up at him, expecting an average face of a man. But the new customer's face was full of paling facial hair, his eyes were sunken, and his cheekbones showing.

"Er… sir, you can't park outside the front door. You'll block the other drivers." Said the store manager behind the counter. And when the man stayed silent, the store manager lifted an eyebrow. "Can I help you with anything?"

"Hello...you can help me by opening the register and giving me what's inside..." said the man with the hoodie before brandishing a gun and pointing it in the face of the boss. "Make this quick, I ain't got time for bullshit.

The store manager's eyes went wide as an expression of horror struck his face.

"Oh...please, I don't want no trouble..." Pleaded the manager as he opened the register. He took a plastic bag that was behind the counter and started putting the money in it, before handing it to the robber.

"Hehehe...smart man, I didn't even have to use my Quirk and you gave me the money outright..." The hooded criminal said as he began to walk out of the convenience store, gun still pointing at the manager.

As he was starting to leave, the door to the back room had begun to slowly open, Seiji trying to squeeze through it while holding a box filled with cans of soda.

"Hey boss, I got the soda- Huh?" Said Seiji as he peered through the door, stopping midway through his sentence to noticing the man in the hoodie jacket walking away with the stores money.

"What the- Ahhh!" Seiji was about to continue until he had caught his foot on the door. Dropping the sodas on the ground as well. Seiji had fallen forward from the sudden trip, landing hard on his face.

As the hooded man was about to exit the doorway, a jolt of sudden pain had rushed through his face as if he had smashed it clean against something. The feeling was immense and harsh, causing him to drop his gun and the bag of money on the ground near the entrance.

"Agrrrhh! Gah! ahhh...what the hell was that!" Said the hooded man as he fell to his knees, his hands now grasping his face from the stinging sensation of pain that he begun to experience.

Seeing the criminal on the ground, the store manager had rushed out the side of the counter to the doorway carrying a baseball bat and holding his face similarly to the criminal.

"Call the cops! Quick!" The store manager commanded Seiji.

As the criminal was on the ground, he noticed the store owner lifting the weapon high over his head and tried to react in time to block the impending strike.

"Got it, boss!" Seiji said aloud. He lifted himself up from the ground and began running to the counter, where the landline phone sat.

But as he was already halfway there, he accidentally stepped on a stray soda can. His leg kicked upwards so quickly, he lost every contact he had with the ground. The can he landed on made his fall twice more painful, as his spine bended inwards due to the shape of the can.

This made the store manager's face contorted to an expression as if he was experiencing great pain on his back, and he dropped his bat in the process.

The hooded man, while in panic, took his chance to kick himself up from the ground and run away. The store manager was left knocked out in front of the door, not until Seiji decided to drag his pained body outside.

A silent frown fell on his face, and his eyes had a shimmer of fear. "I'm so dead…"

* * *

 **Store Office- Musutafu, Japan, 4:45 p.m.**

* * *

Both the retail workers are still in great pain, but Seiji seemed to have gotten used to feeling pain.

"Ahhhhh..." Said the store manager as he placed an ice pack on his backside as he sat in a chair in front of a table.

"Are you okay?" Said a concerned Seiji sitting in a chair nearby. He finally said something after a long minute of twiddling thumbs.

"Do I look and sound like I'm okay?" The store manager said furiously through gritted teeth. He pinched the bridge of his nose before sighing. "Seiji, I'm sorry, I know you're only a 15 year old and all but I'm going to have to cut you lose."

This made Seiji's mouth drop. "What!? Why?!" Said Seiji in his defense, while he looked like he is immediately going to regret it.

"Why?" The store manager lowered his gaze. "WHY?! The thief got away because of you! Not only did you let him escape to rob again, I got hurt in the process!"

The man was looming over Seiji with his face reddened in anger. Seiji, knowing that he couldn't do anything to defend himself, gulped. "I-I-I'm sorry…."

The man stood over him for several seconds before forcing himself to sit back down. "That's not the point, Seiji! It's practically every week now someone gets hurt because of you. Namely me!" said the store manager.

"Look, I can't help it, it's my Quirk acting up!"

The store manager scoffed. "Oh that's a real nice excuse kid, a Quirk that causes everyone around you to experience the pain you get when you harm yourself. And you're gonna argue that that your constant accidents are just coincidences that happen as often as Heroes catching Villains around here?"

"Ehh... Uhhh..." Seiji said, unsure of what to say.

"Two months ago, the new girl ends up going to the hospital because she can't feel her leg and it's all because you made it numb by having a bunch of boxes crush your leg!"

"Accident!" Seiji said in his defense.

"The month after that, you ate some bad anpan bread and then everybody who came into the store suddenly feels like vomiting everywhere."

"Ok that was my fault for not reading a label but that's not as bad as you think, no one got hurt technically!" Seiji argued.

"Want an example? Last week... you are out there cleaning the store sign on a ladder, you fall backwards into the street with a car coming straight towards you. What happens? It hits you. What happens next? Everyone on that street falls unconscious because they experience what it feels like to get hit by a car!" the store manager shouted.

"..." Seiji was silent, unsure of how to counteract the spiteful but honest words being said to him. "What am I gonna do now!? I don't have another job to support myself…" He said sadly.

"Find another job, just not here. If you seriously want to not be everyone's problem... Stop. Getting. Hurt..." The store manager said in a stern way. There was a brief silence before the store manager decided to add: "Look, Seiji, I know you're a nice kid. But this can't work anymore, not since you got past your fuck-up count."

Seiji was silent after hearing this. Not sure how to process the already painful thought about losing his main source of income but also being told to try and do something he has heard multiple times before by other people.

"Please just let me stay a little bit longer!" Seiji begged, suddenly standing up. "I'll promise not to—"

"'—get hurt ever again. I will stay out of harm's way. I will do anything, I just want you to let me stay' yeah, I know, I've heard it twice." The store manager didn't even bother to look angry, what he did looked like was a tired man. "I'll have to ask you to leave."

"But… but…!"

Seiji had lost all the words at the tip of his tongue, knowing that all he could do at this point was to walk away.

* * *

 **Small apartment complex- Musutafu, Japan, 6:00 p.m.**

* * *

When darkness fell over the city of Musutafu, the street lights loomed over the empty roads and lit away the night that crept into the streets. Hours after, the darkness seemed to have won.

Silence filled the block, with the only source of peace and security is in one's home.

Stray cats, that were huddled together while looking for food in trash bin, immediately ran away at the sudden loud shouts that came from a nearby apartment complex.

A tall four floored, beige colored, apartment complex stood silently along with the buildings around it. But, not so much as the occupants inside.

"If you can't pay your bills, then you can't stay!" Shouted a raspy, feminine voice that was loud enough to echo through the streets.

The old wooden door at the front opened suddenly, and a young boy was pushed out from the inside.

The boy stumbled on his two feet. His balance wrecked when the weight of his bag took all the center of gravity he had.

As he fell to his rear, an overly large women stomped out of the doorframe to loom over him with a death glare.

"I've had enough of your promises! It has been two months since you last paid your rent! The other renters have had enough of your Quirk, too!" The landlord lady said with her beefy hands on her large hips. "So you better be gone, and you better be gone by morning! I don't want to see your face here ever again!"

On one hand, the landlord lady held lump of his unwashed shirts. She threw those shirts directly at his face with so much hatred, even Seiji could feel his heart sinking lower and lower.

"I-I can't control it!" Seiji fought back. "I-it's not like I _wanted_ it to work!"

"Save it, kid! I don't even wanna know how the hell you can hurt yourself while sleeping!" The landlord lady barked, her face reddening with fury.

"Wait, please! I'll pay it back, I swear!"

"BY. MORNING!"

"NO. WAIT. PLEASE—" and right when he basically ran towards the landlady, she slammed the front door at his face and locked it shut. Not knowing that it was going to make a very painful contact with his nose.

Seiji clutched his nose in pain, the searing hot sensation ran through his body as he tried to squeeze the pain out.

""My nose!"" Said Seiji, and the landlady from the inside.

Seiji could hear angry stomps of an elephant walking away from the front door, and the only idea of what he's going to do now try pounding at the door and hope that the landlady would pity him.

"Come back! Please!" He sobbed and begged between exhausted breaths. "I have nowhere to go!"

He stopped as he tried catching his breath. His forehead touched the cold wooden door, and he slid downwards in a pathetic way with both his palms are still sticking to the door. He hiccupped as a result of him, trying to hold back his tears.

There isn't anything left for him to do, and thus, hopelessness weighs his heart.

Half an hour later, he finds himself sitting on a park bench under a lone street post. His head glanced down as he sat there, he noticed his cell phone had started to buzz in his pocket. Reaching inside, he pulled it out to see the call was coming from a number that he was familiar with.

 _"You are the last person I want calling me right now_..." He said as he unlocked his phone to answer the call.

His breathings are getting fogged up due to the cold temperature of the night. He rubbed his red, bloodshot teary eyes with his palms, as they are beginning to go sore from the brief episode he had a few minutes ago. Before he picked up the call, he wanted to make sure he pulls the best tone he can make.

He's not going to sound like he had been fired, and kicked out of his apartment.

"Heeeyyyy...what's up?" said Seiji responding back, hoping that his exaggeration can fool the person on the line.

"I'm doing fine, really I am. You shouldn't worry so much. I'm fine." Seiji said to the person on the line. "Why? Well… it's not healthy for you."

A few seconds later, Seiji laughed dryly. " _Yes_ , I am healthy, for your information. What? No, I don't need any money sent to me ok. I'm completely fine on my own... No you don't need to come over, my place is a real mess right now."

Seiji's face fell suddenly, he began scratching his back of his head. "Things have been a bit rough lately but it's nothing I can't handle. Anyway, how's your studies going?"

Listening to the answer, Seiji felt the sudden urge to eat. Unfortunately for him, he doesn't have any money left. "Uh… what? S-sorry, I kinda zoned out a bit back then…"

He stood up from the bench, with an idea, he began walking out of the park. "Yes!" Seiji said sternly. "I am fine, I will manage. I told you, you don't have to worry about me so much…"

He stopped walking abruptly, he bit his bottom lip, and his eyebrows furrowed. "… No… I've been learning how to control it… no, nothing in particular happened."

Seiji sighed and after the other person said something, he replied. "Love you too."

He ended up having a staring contest with his flip phone, with his thoughts scattered away to nobody knows where.

His stomach rumbled again, and it brought him back to this world. "Guess I'll go to the convenience store." Seiji said to no one in particular.

His figure left the park, along with what's left of his confidence.

* * *

 **Convenience Store- Musutafu, Japan, 7:30 p.m.**

* * *

Even if it's day or night, the local convenience store will always be deserted. Seiji felt a small tinge of melancholy when he entered the front door again.

Luckily for him, the store manager would be home at this hour. Of course, _somebody_ would be there, but not anybody that would tell him to get lost.

When he noticed a man was standing behind the counter, reading a magazine, Seiji realized that it was his coworker, and friend, who happened to be working in night shift tonight.

"Hi, how can I—Seiji?" The older man said, surprised.

Seiji awkwardly waved at him. "Hey Mario... I suppose the coffee machine in the back still busted?"

Mario gave him a puzzled stare. "Er… no? I think the manager bought a new cable for the old machine. Wanna go and check it out."

"Yeah," Seiji nodded in acceptance, "I could use something to eat, too."

As they went and walked towards the break room, Mario decided to chat. "So I-uh… heard you were fired."

Seiji did not answer at once. "Mmm-hmmm… I was…"

"Shoot, really?" Mario said, furrowing his eyebrows. "Well, I'm sorry, man. How are you holding up?"

"Eh…" Seiji simply shrugged, his eyes traveled to a small machine in the corner of the break room. "How's college, by the way?"

Mario also had the hesitancy to answer. "As always, I guess." As he watched Seiji silently moping around, pressing buttons on the obviously unplugged coffee maker, he sighed. "Look, is there anything in particular I can help you with?"

As he said this, he took the plug that was sitting on top of the coffee maker, and inserted it to a nearby electrical socket. "I have to get back to the counter, you know."

Seiji pursed his lips. "Look, man, I… don't have any money and… I'm not sure if I should even get some food from the shelves."

"Then why don't you asked your—"

"She doesn't know, okay?!" Seiji snapped. "I… it's embarrassing! I can't just crawl back to her! She's never going to be satisfied just by telling me over, and over again _'I told you so'_." He said the last part in a shrill voice.

Mario clicked his tongue. "Well, how about this? You take whatever you want from the shelves, just for tonight."

Seiji was in between being glad and being disappointed. _"That wouldn't be enough…"_ Seiji thought, afraid of Mario hearing. _"But I can't ask for more, that's just egoistic!"_

"… Are you sure?" Seiji asked for confirmation.

Mario shrugged. "I don't really care, either way. I mean, the boss isn't here, and since you're practically starving…"

"Oh good." He began sarcastically. "I'm being pitied."

Mario laughed. "You get what you came for."

As Seiji filled his belly with hot coffee, Mario readied some cup ramen with some hot water he got from the water dispenser. The time passed quickly without the both of them noticing.

Seiji sat at one of the seats that was readied outside for the customers that chose to eat their store-bought foods immediately. A big red umbrella is placed in the middle of the square table, with three out of four seats put under the table.

Seiji decided to not disturb Mario when he's working. From this point on, he plans to look for a new retail job openings in a new ward in Tokyo, while living somewhere cheap and affordable.

While sipping on the now lukewarm coffee, he noticed a white van just pulled up at one end of the street in front of the convenience store.

Seiji, not caring much about the van, went around the corner of the convenience store to throw out his leftover trash while at the same time minding his own business in the toilet.

A few minutes later, he heard a sound of glass breaking. He stopped just in front of the toilet door, trying to figure if what he heard was real. And not long after that, he heard another loud crash.

When Seiji hurried towards the front of the convenience store, he noticed that the front automatic entrance was beaten mercilessly. From the outside, he saw two people dressed in black jackets and masks were carrying around a crowbar and a baseball bat.

Seiji thoughts immediately of his friend, and what these people are doing to him.

"HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Seiji shouted out of anger.

What he didn't know is that two more people were hiding behind the counter, collecting money. And when the four of them noticed Seiji, one of them pointed at him and shouted angrily, "It was him! I'm pretty goddamn sure it was that kid!"

Seiji recognized that voice a bit, and the sunken eyes under that hood. It was the man from before, the one who tried to rob the convenience store and got away with it.

"Beat him up!" One of them said, raising his baseball bat higher. "Make him pay for what he did to one of US!"

" _Oh shit…"_ Seiji cursed internally, not knowing what to do now.

But as the baseball batted man approached him, Seiji instinctively grabbed one of the chairs outside and threw it as far as he could. Fortunately, the chair managed to hit the man with a 'clang!' and it made him stumble backwards.

Seiji obviously did not intended that his night go down this way, but he's going to earn back the pride that he lost one way or another.

The rest of the three all surrounded him at once, Seiji never had the chance to fight back when one of them grabbed him from behind.

"I got him!" The lankier man said. Although his body seemed skinny, there was obviously something strong in his grip.

The man from before approached him from the front, pulled out a knife, and said, "Ready to die, asshole?!"

Seiji tossed and turned in the lanky man's arms, and finally, he swung his leg upwards for a kick while wishing for it to hit something.

His foot then kicked the sunken-eyed man in between the legs, his loud painful "OOF!" could be heard.

The man stumbled back, his knife fell out of his grip, and his friends just watched him fall to his rear while still holding his private parts with his dear life.

Seiji could suddenly break himself free from the lanky man's grip, but not long after, a powerful sting was felt when his head suddenly made contact with a fast moving blunt object.

The pain was unbearable, it made Seiji lose his balance and fall towards the hard concrete ground.

Seiji gritted his teeth and groaned in misery. But it wasn't just him that was in pain.

When he opened his eye, his vision is blurry, but he could make out the world around him. The thugs around him began dropping like flies, all of them are clutching their heads in pain.

"What… the fuck… was that?!" One of them said through gritted teeth.

Fortunately to Seiji, he is used to physical pains like this. Even though his head is still spinning, and his bruise still stinging painfully, he managed to pull himself up from the ground.

However, when he took only two steps from where he laid, he heard faint sirens in the distance. And not long after, bright blue and red lights are shining from every view. The sound of the siren was painfully irritating, it made his head spin even more.

He caught a glimpse of a cop, pointing a tazer gun at him. "HANDS BEHIND YOUR HEAD, NOW!" Shouted the cop.

Seiji felt puzzled, his worry slowly rising. And when he looked back towards the convenience store, he saw Mario fearfully hiding behind the window with a mobile phone in his hand.

This made Seiji lost all of his courage and hope, his heart sank deeper than he could ever imagine. He sighed, and complied with the officer's command.

"Today was a great day…"

* * *

 **Musutafu Police Department- Musutafu, Japan, 9:10 p.m.**

* * *

Luckily, after the police took custody of him and the rest of the thugs, Mario cleared up to the authorities that Seiji wasn't part of the attempted assault at the convenience store. That he was trying to stop it.

Unfortunately, the police still refused to let him go after the incident. High possibility that they are very suspicious of him after they saw him standing in the midst of fallen, highly dangerous thugs.

Thinking back, Seiji could guess why all of the police officers that interrogated him are so highly wary in his presence.

Giving them details about his Quirk didn't help much too. What Seiji received, however not gratitude nor appreciation, was a warning of using his Quirk in public. No matter how hard he tried to explain to them that his Quirk tends to act on its own, they are extremely certain that he will find _some_ other way to control it.

It had been a good ten minutes after that, and what Seiji is left with was an after effect of a concussion and a good exhausting annoyance that never seemed to go out in smoke.

There was a knock on the interrogation room door that made Seiji's head perked up.

An officer holding a bunch of paperwork peeked his head in. "Your friend is here to visit you. Clear up that desk for him, would you?"

"My… friend?" Seiji uttered out, feeling quite puzzled.

The officer nodded before going back to his business after closing the door behind him. Seiji still felt the confusion when the officer mentioned a friend, when he knows for sure that he had never been called by one.

Seiji was in between being suspicious, and being thankful. On one hand, he realizes that he might need all the help he can get to get out of this mess, on the other hand—

"No…" He muttered in horror, realizing another possibility.

He's going to be so embarrassed when _she_ finds out what happened to him.

When he heard a creak from the door, he realized his cue.

"Yeah, yeah… I know… okay?" He said aloud, feeling a little too worn out to be dealing with _this_. "I'm sorry I didn't listen to you… Ri—"

Right before finishing his sentence, he saw what he didn't expected. A man with slick back, groomed black hair. His face is square, with dirty stubbles under it. His body is well built, and it sported a clean business suit complete with a black tie. An epitome of a very handsome lion.

The both of them locked eyes. Seiji's confused one stared into the other man's cold, stern ones.

"Who did you expected it was?" The man asked him. His voice deep and gruff.

Seiji only muttered out ineligible words.

The man only shook his head. "It doesn't matter."

Seiji watched as the man walked towards one of the two chairs that sat across from him. The man brought a folder full of documents, he took away the tray of drinks on top of the table and placed his folder in its place.

"Hello, Seiji Orimura." The man said. "I have hoped that your concussion problems aren't too problematic for our meeting tonight."

Seiji, feeling speechless, said, "… Okay…"

The man blinked at him. Then, his stone hard face actually splits into a small half smile. "Forgive me, I forgot to introduce myself." The man puts a hand on top of his chest. "My name is Hisaki Adachi. You may call me Mr. Adachi. I do prefer it if you'd call me with an honorific."

When Mr. Adachi offered him a hand to shake, Seiji hesitated to take it. Of course, to him, Mr. Adachi is still a stranger who have not revealed his intentions yet.

"You might be wondering why I'm here." Mr. Adachi said simply.

"That…" Seiji realized that there was no point making a sarcastic remark. "Yeah, I guess…"

"First off, there is something about you that I want to talk about." Mr. Adachi told him. "Have you ever felt out of place?"

Seiji's head perked up. "Eh?"

Before Mr. Adachi answers Seiji's puzzlement, he pulled out a piece of document from his folder.

"Here. These papers are for your eyes only." Mr. Adachi told him softly.

When Seiji picked it up and began reading it, he realized that it was a biography about him. It has his picture in 6 by 4 photo on the top left corner, there is a list of things under his photo including his name, age, gender, height, weight, and many others.

This made Seiji even more confused.

"You are familiar with the incident that occurred six years ago, aren't you?" Mr. Adachi asked him.

" _Six years ago…"_ Seiji thought bitterly. He never wanted to remember that incident, it always made his heart hammer madly against his ribcage, his breathing always turns shallow, and his mind went pitch black because of the guilt that he received that day.

Pain. So much pain. Endless abyss of guilt that swallowed him neck deep. No, there's no reason to remember it all, ever again.

"Disappeared into thin air, you did. Of course, I had a hard time tracking you down. But when I found out that several cases of Quirk related attacks had been happening in several different places, I continued my search and just—" Mr. Adachi made gestures with his hand, "—connect the pieces."

Seiji suddenly snapped up. "How did you know about this…?" He croaked.

Mr. Adachi stared blankly at him. "Do you feel left out, Seiji?"

Seiji did not answer.

"You are born with a double edged sword. If you are suffering, you will share that pain." Mr. Adachi said, leaning closer towards the table. "You saw so much pain in your life. Not your pain, though. But it was the pain that you never wanted to give."

Seiji, again, did not answer.

"And, I was informed that you were fired. Several times, from several jobs. Judging by that, I can tell that you're not doing so well economically?" Mr. Adachi asked. He pulled out another document from the folder. "You also made quite the reputation, did you know that? You were, and still are, blacklisted from three completely different schools in Japan."

"Stop." Seiji snapped at him, curling his hands into fists. "You're right! Ok?! What do you want?!"

Seiji felt angry, irritated. All of what Mr. Adachi said, Seiji had swear to keep all of that concealed. He had tried so hard to forget his past, nobody has the rights to talk about it.

"You… you want to take me to juvenile detention, don't you?" Seiji asked him, pushing through his fear and tries to be intimidating. In the end he had nothing to say. He was so sure that Mr. Adachi came from some high security Quirked people's jail. The possibility made him hung his head and shiver, there's no possible way he can run away from this.

"Quite the opposite, really." Mr. Adachi told him, which made Seiji to glance upwards. "You are a very interesting boy, Seiji. That's the reason why I tried tracking you down in the first place."

Seiji can only stare at Mr. Adachi in confusion, and wary. Then, Mr. Adachi continued. "I did came from a prison. That is no lie. However now, I am working together with the U.A schoolboard. We are trying to establish a relationship with you."

Seiji felt more and more interested in what Mr. Adachi has to say, mostly because he immediately knew what U.A is as soon as Mr. Adachi mentions it. To him, there must be a very important matter to have sent someone to interview him.

"Establish… a relationship…"

"A studentship offer."

Seiji opened his mouth to say, but no voice came out. He was taken aback by that sudden statement. Several questions began popping into his head: _"Why… me? Why would a prestigious school for creating heroes, offer me a place in their school"_

"You are… kidding." Seiji concluded, his shoulders slumped. "This is a joke… there's no way in hell that you're actually saying what you're saying."

"And why is that?"

Seiji scoffed. "I hurt people!" He said incredulously. "My Quirk literally make people feel pain—you just said that! I was… I was blacklisted… and…"

"Seiji." Mr. Adachi said in an assuring tone. "We will clear up all your past crimes. No more will you be remembered infamously. This is no joke, Seiji."

" _I won't buy it…"_ Seiji thought begrudgingly in his mind. _"I… can't..."_

"Here." Mr. Adachi said, bringing Seiji back to their conversation.

Another piece of document was given to him, but this time, the page is full of terms of agreement, and there is a blank underlined place where a sentence hovers above it: "PERSON OF ACCEPTANCE". Seiji also noticed one other thing, on the top of the document there is a bold golden-colored U and A insignia.

Mr. Adachi cleared his throat. "We are currently searching for kids like you. A person of teen age with the reputation of a delinquent, a problem child if you may. The principal of U.A and I believes that _all_ children are born the same, regardless of their capabilities. A good environment for learning is all they need." Mr. Adachi explained. "But there are some things that you should keep in mind:" Mr. Adachi puts up one finger, "this 'reformation' program is highly experimental, considering that it has never been done before." Mr. Adachi puts up another finger. "Not only will this experiment has the risk of failure, the children who accepted this program will no longer has the second chance to reform themselves."

Seiji did kept that in mind. If he did accepted this program, which he haven't, what would happen if he flunked all his classes? He has no idea how to be a hero.

"On the other hand, if this experiment came out as a success, there will be several of these 'Heroics Reformation Initiative' program that operates on several different prestigious school of heroes."

Seiji couldn't help it, but he's almost convinced. There was something wrong, though. An offer like this is a miracle come true, there's several reasons why Seiji could tell Mr. Adachi that this offer is too good to be true.

"Not only that, the children who succeeded in this program and graduated high school will be funded in both heroics colleges and hero office jobs, straight from the government." Mr. Adachi added before pausing. "You… Seiji… will turn on a new leaf. I promise you that you will return to the world as a new man… as a hero."

Seiji's hands tremored as he held the agreement paper in front of him. "I… I can't take this…"

Mr. Adachi looked surprised.

"This is... but I can't be a hero… I'm just… Seiji…" Seiji mumbled out. _"I've… sinned…"_

Mr. Adachi only gave him a blank stare, before he chuckled. "I can't argue with that. But being Seiji is not so bad, no? Why don't you think Seiji can be a hero?"

Seiji did not answer him.

"Seiji, of course, is just a teenager. A wise hero told me that 'life is short, enjoy your youth', and that brings us back to my earlier question." Mr. Adachi leaned himself closer, there was high expectancy in his eyes. "Do you feel left out?"

"Yes." This time, his answer was no hesitated.

"Do you enjoy your life?"

"No."

"Do you want to be a hero?"

" _For my sake… and_ hers _."_ Seiji pursed his lips before nodding. "I want to be a hero."

Seiji mildly slammed the agreement paper on the desk. His hand moved to his side, trying to grab a pen, only realizing that there wasn't anything there.

"Do you need a pen?" Mr. Adachi asked. Holding out a small fountain pen.

"Er… thanks…" With a quick move of his right hand, Seiji made his signature.

He gave back the agreement paper to Mr. Adachi. Then, he felt a little hesitant at his decision. "Will… will this program be introduced to the public?"

Mr. Adachi looked like he was taken aback by that question. "No. Why do you ask?"

"No reason… but, I'm glad that it's not." Seiji laughed dryly.

Mr. Adachi only blinked twice at his response. He then decided to shake that off, and offered Seiji his hand.

"I'm looking forward in working with you." Mr. Adachi smiled.

Seiji, feeling a bit pleased with himself, smiled back. "T-thank you. For that offer, I mean."

"Take this, Seiji." Mr. Adachi said as he stood up. From his suit pocket, he pulled out a small business card. "In here is your next instruction, that place is where we will start our program."

Seiji took Mr. Adachi's business card, and they parted ways. In the end, Mr. Adachi manages to get Seiji out of the risk of jail time. While Mr. Adachi's whereabouts are unknown to Seiji, there was a high possibility that he is searching for another student to pull into his program; according to Seiji, of course.

Not even fifteen minutes later, Seiji was back sitting in the park bench. He was staring at his small given business card, front and back, while feeling a little bit sketchy.

A chance like this doesn't come cheap, and it certainly doesn't come easy. Was it luck then?

Seiji took out his flip phone and opened his contacts his button, his heart fastening ever second. He felt happy, ecstatic, overjoyed.

But… when the phone's already dialing another person, he realized… he couldn't tell _her_ yet. Will _she_ even approve of this?

His heart sank, until a voicemail came in.

" _Good, she's sleeping."_ Seiji thought, then he waited for the beep, and started talking. "H-hey… sorry for calling so late. But I have good news! Erm… I-I'll tell you all about it tomorrow! Can you… can you keep in touch? I feel like I'm going to need your help on this one. Thanks!"

He sighed as he closed his flip phone. He hung his head low and groaned depressingly.

There is so much he has to explain tomorrow.

* * *

 **Next Day—U.A Meeting Room- Musutafu, Japan, 7.30 a.m.**

* * *

The U.A meeting room is brightly lit due to the sun shining over Musutafu.

Usually, this meeting room is only used to discuss the school's improvements for a better future in making students into heroes. And today, it's exactly that, but with a little twist.

"I will not allow it!" Said a furious and overbearing voice. A well-built man masked in red hot flames sat on the seat which circled the roundtable. This man is Enji Todoroki, also known as The Endeavor. A pro hero known for his ruthless attitude in battle.

"Madmen! All of you! How do you expect the school to function properly when it's having these… these _hooligans_ learning in it! Absolutely not! I will never allow my son to even go _near_ one of these delinquents!" Endeavor said.

The other attendants only stared at him in exasperation. The pro hero Midnight was the first second one to speak, and she did it with a sigh. "I know that I signed to this agreement, and I honestly thought that this program is a good way to reform bad children into heroes. But Principal Nedzu, don't you think you're going a little bit overboard with _these_ kind of children?"

Nedzu, who was the one who gathered them all to this meeting, only sat there speechless.

"I'll have to ask you the same question, principal." Aizawa said, holding a bunch of documents in his hands. He shuffled through them one by one, "A son of supervillain... a daughter of supervillain… How long does the list goes?"

"I even had to retrieve a mentally sickened child!" Thirteen said in incredulity. "That kid is seriously damaged, I tell you!"

"Is this a joke, principal?" Endeavor pushed, a scowl growing on his face. "Are you pulling a prank on us? Or are you actually trying to ruin this school's reputation, _my_ son's school reputation?!"

"Of course not, Mr. Todoroki." Said a new voice that entered the room.

All of the pro heroes, including Nedzu, find themselves staring at a well suited man with black mane. He also brought in a bunch of documents with him.

"This program expects _all_ of the students involved to succeed as heroes." Said Hisaki Adachi. "And you have surely known that heroes will never, ever cause distress to others. No matter the size of said distress."

Endeavor blinked confusedly, before snorting loudly as he laughed. "What future do you expect the school has if it's running this program?"

"Maybe you should expect me what future do I expect the _country_ has." Mr. Adachi answered back. He approached the round table and placed his documents on top of it.

Nedzu was the one who picked it up, and read it from top to bottom. His eyes went wide in joyful shock. "You've managed to get the Minister of Heroic's support?! Why I… how in the world did you do this?!"

"I am very educated when it comes to negotiating." Mr. Adachi replied. His gruff voice makes it hard to tell whether he was joking or just bragging.

There was a low mutter heard. "Bribery…"

Mr. Adachi shot Endeavor a look. "If you really want to know, Mr. Todoroki, I'll tell you."

"I want to know how you would manage a class of 12 poorly educated, villainous, wicked, and revolting children." Endeavor scoffed, his beefy fiery arms crossing.

Mr. Adachi did not answer at once, he only smiled. "You see… they are what they are: children. They never asked to be born under such circumstances, they never asked to be treated like villains, but I see something in them that nobody else sees. Hope."

The pro heroes listened to his reasoning closely. Mr. Adachi has brought light to them, it was as if they were hearing from an experienced teacher.

"They still have time, they still have the chance to turn. If we try to understand each and every one of them, there will be no doubt a change in their way of looking at the world." Mr. Adachi then pointed at his document. "We will try small, smaller than we have ever done. From only 12 people we have the full support from the government, especially the Ministry of Heroics. We will give them, not only the best environment for creating heroes, the best materials to raise the best law-defenders ever known in history."

There was a glint of hope and admiration from the teachers. Even Nedzu seemed like he was about to cry.

Mr. Adachi then turned to Endeavor. "The country supports us, so why won't you?"

Endeavor said nothing, but his arms still crossed defensively against Mr. Adachi. Skeptical splattered on his face, he isn't looking like he's going to give in anytime soon.

Nedzu was the one who broke the silence. "If you are concerned in what interactions will your son and my future students have, I suggest you look at these possibilities: Shouto will be a great teacher to them when it comes to being a hero, he did get it from you. I also expect all of my students to interact with their new class. Socializing is an important thing, you know."

"A girl with a computer brain, and a boy who can spit mercury. Take their enhancement away and what do you get?" Mr. Adachi asked. "Why not take all Quirks away? What difference do one child has with the other? That's right. Parenting."

"You," Endeavor said in surprise, "are planning to parent them?"

"I will parent them, Mr. Todoroki. I believe in them." Mr. Adachi simply said. "'A good teacher has a better student', or isn't that what you told your son?"

Endeavor made a low growl. "What do you want me to do?"

"Your support, it's that simple. You'll cover out heroic lessons if we need it, but for now we just need you to be there for them." Mr. Adachi brought finger to his chin. "Although, I don't plan to use the same methods on all of them, as you have heard, one of them suffers from some kind of a mental illness. That's why a different approach with each is necessary, at first."

"And how do you expect their families to react?" Aizawa was the one asking now. "I'm curious, you know."

"Out of 12 people, how many of those are born from evil?" Mr. Adachi said. "Not quite much, but they have the something in common: experiences of abuse. Now, some of these kids already has their guardians in captivity, thus why they are unsure of what to do by themselves. And it's how I will get to them, I will make them comfortable with their new home, I will make them realize that they do not deserve such treatments, and I will do it one step at a time. Some times in the future, we will encounter a child who will have the urge to go back to their parents, presumably because of their fear of them. And that is where you heroes come in."

Aizawa said nothing, which brought Mr. Adachi to his last conclusion.

"Today, at exactly 10:00 a.m., we will begin the first step in our experiment." He then turns to Endeavor. "You are welcome to stay and examine the program."

Endeavor scratched his fiery beard, then he decided that he'll take a quick look. They all agreed on one thing after the meeting, to do their best. Because all of them are still unsure of how all of this will turn out.

But the one who's most confidence was Nedzu. The small mammal is looking forward to this day, and he hoped for the best results.

* * *

 **Hello everybody!**

 **Before we begin our 2nd author's notes, I'd like to make an announcement for our new 2 members of the cast.**

 **Congratulations, ZodiacPanic and alphawolf2196! Your characters, Yato and Mika, are going to be in the story!**

 **And for those who also submitted their characters: Firedusk, The Impostor, PowerPlayer, Eon The Zoroark, kazumiokazaki, CrazyPlotQueen, TheBubonicPlagueDoctor, 101romansoldier, Notadeadguy, TheStuffIlike, ssjzohan, The1AndOnlyYoursTruly, Narharcan, and Funka1999 (I hope I got your names right and didn't miss anyone) thank you for your hard work!  
Don't worry even if you didn't get selected. I will be PMing you guys for another announcement! Look out for it!**

 **.**

 **Up next! The start of a school never felt so dangerous! Maybe it's because your megalomaniac classmate is a short kid who can make earthquakes? Or perhaps it's because you're practically placing all the bad kids in one place?**

 **Find out next time on "My Hero Academia : Delinquents Class"!**

 **.**

 **.**

 **R &R**


	3. First Impressions

**Apartment flat, West Musutafu – 08:00 a.m.**

* * *

Seiji woke up this morning all sad and miserable.

Sleeping at Mario's apartment flat wasn't exactly the best place to crash. It's literally spelled like college, all over the place. Seiji isn't exactly a perfectionist, but he'd rather sleep somewhere else than a bed full of unwashed clothes. Mario had his reason, and it was that he plans on cleaning them today.

Of course, Seiji was glad that his coworker permitted him to be in slumber at his home.

When the morning sun crept in through the window, Seiji founds himself sleeping in an awkward position while still fully clothed in jeans and t-shirt. He had the sudden urge to wash, smelling how his body odor was too strong for him to comprehend.

Fortunately, the clothes that his old landlady threw at him wasn't spoiled in any way. Probably because of the fact that what he used to carry them was a cheap plastic bag from the convenience store.

After cleaning each crack of his body, brushing his teeth, and washing away his bed hair. Seiji felt in total relief.

As he tried putting on some of Mario's deodorant, he saw his scars. The scars that he used to hurt himself, in self-defense. Seiji laughed at the irony, which took the form of a thin pale pink line on both hands.

Then, he walked back into the bedroom, thinking that it was time for him to leave the household. He noticed that, on top of the lamp table, there was a small business card.

Seiji remembered what had happened last night, and tried to summarize it inside his head.

" _I got fired. I got kicked out of my apartment. I got beaten with a crowbar. And against all odds, a man came to me, and offered me a studentship in U.A."_ Seiji paused his train of thoughts. _"U.A, the prestigious school for heroes, offered me a studentship."_

Seiji went back to the time he signed that form, he remembered that there was a part where it says 'Terms of Agreement', but he remembered little bits of it.

On the card, there is a U.A. insignia, a name that says 'Hisaki Adachi', a phone number, and a sentence that says 'Come to U.A by 9:30, it's that simple'.

Seiji searches for a clock in the bedroom. As he finds one, he realized that he has three hours left to be there. And while not knowing what would happen to him if he shows up late to where Mr. Adachi told him to be, he hurried his packing.

After leaving a small I.O.U on top of the kitchen table, Seiji left the apartment room.

Walking down the busy morning street, he checked on his flip phone. _"Hmmm… she hasn't called back yet. I guess she's been very busy lately."_ Seiji thought before putting back his phone to his pocket.

Walking through the crowds, on the zebra crossing, up the public stairs, and finally to the inside of a bus.

Seiji braced and braced for the studentship that he had signed up for. He suddenly felt a little hesitant, thinking that what if he wasn't cut out to be a hero after all.

The bus stopped at a station, somewhere near Seiji's destination. Thinking that it would've been wiser to walk from here, Seiji decided to jump right off the bus.

But not long after, as he walked his way according to the map, he saw something unexpectedly peculiar.

From the distance, it was an obvious scene. A tall, H-shaped building stood in the middle of the city. And the thousands of U.A's windows reflecting the glimmering sun. The whole foundation stood magnificently, with its size unbelievably large even for a prestigious school.

"Amazing…" Seiji said in awe.

He noticed something else. There were several blockades placed in front of the school and a group of security guards pushing a group of what seemed to be reporters away from the front gates.

" _I wonder what's going on…"_ Seiji thought as he walked closer.

He pushed through the crowds and saw the edge of the blockade, and it was the noisiest in the whole area.

"Come on! We just wanted to see what's going on!" A female reported demanded to the security guard. "The people need to know why there's a blockade in the middle of spring!"

Seiji realized that not even they knew what's the occasion about. He's pretty sure that the U.A school board did not inform the public about the program he's in, even Mr. Adachi made sure that it wouldn't.

But it made him wonder. Why do they even need barricades?

Seiji walked up to the security guards. "Erm… I'm supposed to be here by 9:30?"

The hatted security guard looked down at him with his black sunglasses. He made a grunt as he checked his clipboard. "Yeah… you're on the list…"

"Excuse me." Said another voice behind Seiji. "I'm also invited."

Seiji looked past his shoulder and saw a much, much taller boy looking down on him. The boy grew white, silverfish hair on top of his frozen, dead face. The sight of him is enough to be called intimidating, even more so when the boy lets out a puff of smoke from his mouth, indicating a dangerous level of hostility.

"What are you looking at?" The boy said darkly.

Seiji gulped. "N… nothing…"

The security guard checked his clipboard again. "Hrrrmmm… fine, you two go through. These guys will escort you in."

"T-thank you." Seiji bid to the security guard and met with another one.

The white haired boy said nothing, but the reporters were awestruck. "Wait! Please! Kid, come back-!"

Seiji, as much as he wanted to get away from the prying eyes of journalists and reporters, he's still stuck together with the white haired boy from before. The boy carried a duffle bag on his right arm while sporting a black hoodie.

The awkwardness intensifies.

"You're staring…"

"Uh-uh…" Before Seiji realized what he just said, he backtracked. "Are you… here for the program too?"

"Obviously."

"But… why?"

"Same reason you're here." The boy answered him, his eyes averting away from Seiji's gaze.

As they got to the front gates, Seiji was greeted by the sheer size of it. Even though it was in the middle of spring, school semesters around Japan should not start yet.

"Traveling light, Seiji?" Someone said.

And from the other side of the gate was Hisaki Adachi, greeting him with a handshake. The man never seemed to change clothes, as he is still wearing that same suit Seiji saw last night.

Seiji reacted with an embarrassed blush, looking at his backpack. "Y-yeah, there's only clothes in there…"

"Don't worry." Mr. Adachi said reassuringly. "Everything you need will be provided afterward."

Seiji and his newfound participant were gestured to come through the gate.

"Come, we have so much to look forward to." Mr. Adachi said as he patted Seiji on the back. Then, he turned to the white haired boy. "Oh, and I'm glad you decided to show up, Oboro."

"Likewise." Oboro simply said as he shook Mr. Adachi's hand.

"This is Oboro Kirikagure, he'll be your classmate." Mr. Adachi told Seiji. "Oboro, this is Seiji Orimura. It's a necessity for you two to get along."

Seiji suddenly felt himself to be at ease as if weights on his shoulders were lifted. "It was… really nice to meet you."

Oboro briefly nodded, before seeming to be shrugging off their last conversation.

" _Is he always this quiet?"_ Seiji thought. Ultimately, Seiji shook it off as well.

On the other hand, Seiji was taken aback by the sheer amount of enthusiasm Mr. Adachi has in meeting him, for a second he's sure that nobody else decided to show up except for him. Maybe that's why Mr. Adachi is so happy.

"You can leave your belongings to these two, Seiji." Mr. Adachi said, pointing to the security guards escorting them.

"Where's… the rest of the participants?" Seiji asked, while internally hoping that Mr. Adachi won't be taking it personally.

"They'll be here." Mr. Adachi said, assuring. "You two are just early."

"Oh…" It was the only thing Seiji could think as a response. "I see…"

As they walked towards the main building, Seiji took the time to look around the vicinity. Since it was spring, blooms and blooms of green-leaved trees stood tall next to the pavement that they walked on. The school grounds must've been built on acres and acres of land, because how even do you fit a stadium in it?

Then, the both of them heard the sound of a vehicle roaring in the distance. Looking back, they saw that the gates were opened once more.

Waves of mini busses, a van, a regular family car, and one military vehicle parallel parked right in front of one another. The gates were closed, and the barricades were brought in.

Mr. Adachi then encountered a man with protective armor on. "That's all of them, sir. Also, two more of those who claim to participate are waiting right at the front gate."

Adachi, however, didn't look so pleased. "I thought I had requested one bus for all the participants…"

The man scratched the back of his head. "Yes… well… we had a discussion, and decided to put all of them in separated busses to minimalize the risk of conflict."

"Wait…" Seiji began. "Who's 'all of them'?"

Mr. Adachi looked past Seiji and sighed. "I guess this is it…" Then, he turned to both Seiji and Oboro. "Seiji, Oboro, could you do me a favor and wait here?"

"Y-yeah," Seiji said.

"Alright." Oboro shrugged.

The both of them noticed an increasing amount of security guards around their perimeter, all of them in their own protective armor. They also noticed how Mr. Adachi seemed to be putting out everything on the line for this program, as he showed in how he ran around the main path trying to confirm the vehicles and their drivers.

Basically tiring himself, doing all the work.

Seiji felt himself getting a little bit worried, and curious. It's a little funny to see Mr. Adachi this way. Seiji wondered what he sees in this program that is so important to him.

"Who do you think they are?" Oboro spoke to him. "To be transported here with their own vehicles."

"Must be important people." Seiji hypothesized.

"I could see the words 'Akame Prison' painted into one of the busses," Oboro said. "I know that this is supposed to be a reformation program for… children with difficulties in fitting in society, but this is too much."

Seiji couldn't help but agree. "I'm even surprised U.A's the one who planned this."

"I was told so," Oboro revealed. "We're alike, you and I. Unwanted in society, and a befitting people to enroll in this shit."

Seiji ignored Oboro's profanity. The taller boy has a point. What did the school really looking for when they decided to run this program? Success in the whole process doesn't exactly promise a good future for problem children, much less Seiji himself.

"Hey, look, there's someone getting off that car." Oboro pointed.

A black family car, parked right next to the main gate, is consisting of three people. A girl with a pale skin which reflected the sunlight walked out from the backseat, her figure is most strange and alien as it resembled more of a skeleton than an average human, her teeth seemed to be sitting visibly outside, and her shaggy hair fell smoothly to her waist.

Two other people came out from the front seat and spoke to the girl, high chance of them being her parents as they are adopting the same features. Seiji and Oboro saw the mother and her daughter embracing each other in a brief embrace, the husband did the same.

Seiji saw Mr. Adachi walking over towards them, and engaging the family in a conversation. The parents shook hands with him, before bidding both Mr. Adachi and her daughter a goodbye.

Oboro gave a short harrumph before averting his eyes somewhere else.

Seiji also saw kids his age coming out of the busses, they all are sporting different kinds of outfits.

A boy with dark-ash hair stepped out of a small minivan, his figure is quite tall, he sported a sweatshirt and jeans that are finished with regular school shoes. Although his eyes are beautifully silvery white, they are focused solely on the mobile phone that he's playing with.

Another individual also appeared, this time, she came by herself like Seiji and Oboro. This girl is most interesting thanks to the two tufty canine ears that sat right on top of her head, her mild bushy tail, and her longer than average canine fangs. She sported plain blue shirt with a v-neck collar, form fitting black leather jacket with a propped up collar, and combat boots.

Following her is a nearly hunchbacked boy, with thick and wild darker gray hairs flowing down his face to his shoulders in locks. His face is quite hidden under his hair, but his black dress shirt, his belted jeans, and pointed shoes give off quite the aura.

Another girl came out from, this time, really expensive car. Her face is dull and blank as if speaking directly that her habit is not socializing, her jet black hair is split in two giving her an open forehead as it flowed down to her right shoulder. She also sported a buttoned collared t-shirt which gave her a formal personality, she wore a women's trousers that's leather belted, and a low heeled shoe to finish it off.

An unsightly boy came next, and he was transported in an old white van. His shaggy blue hair is what stood out the most, it's as if the boy scratches his head every day just to figure out how many was he could mess up his hair, there was an odd smirk on his face, and enthusiastic but whimsical personality to match. He wore nothing else but a plain white shirt and jeans. He seemed to be free from an authority, but a woman came out of the vehicle and escorted him.

From a prison bus, came out a big-bodied boy that's surprisingly well-built in his age. There was something about him that feels hostile, not only did his medium-length dark navy hair did nothing to cover up his toothy grin, but his appearance is just trying to challenge everyone in the vicinity. His clothing is somewhat normal, a baseball shirt and brown boots with jeans.

A girl came out of a minibus, she looked quite confident with her nose up in the air. On the other hand, she has a pretty fair skin, a well-endowed figure, a dark brown hair that falls to her lower back, her face is also embedded with freckles, while decorated with a visible scar on the right side of her neck. She wore a blue colored hoodie, a skirt, and a pair of boots.

Another girl appeared as well, this time she came from a small prison bus. She adopted a fascinating display of metallic skin on the right side of her body, while her left side remained a pale skin color, her black hair reaches her shoulder and both her eyes glows differently. She wore a simple black dress that reaches he knees, and a thigh high boots to match it off.

The last vehicle is a peculiar vehicle with heavy metal armor that's plated on every side, and a short statured boy came out from it. It was not his long messy brunette hair that covered a part of his face, it was not the way he stomped out of the vehicle, it wasn't even his height either, but the scowl that he sported was the most dangerous life threatening warning Seiji had ever seen. The boy only sported a jacket, a t-shirt, and cargo pants, but that doesn't matter compared to the way he looks at people as if he's trying to rip them limb from limb with his teeth.

Seiji and Oboro are both rooted to the ground, while Seiji was obviously the more wary of the two, they both couldn't figure out the atmosphere they are in.

The other children are being escorted by the security guards, and when they are all gathered in one place, Mr. Adachi went up to the front.

"Now, I'm sure that you all recognize me." Mr. Adachi began. "Allow me to introduce myself again: my name is Hisaki Adachi, and I will be your temporary caretaker for today's occasion."

Seiji looked around to the people around him, and he doesn't doubt that they, too, are new to this odd feeling of being together.

"First thing's off, I'd like to thank all of you for coming today. A bright future is what we're looking for after this program, we'll create a new era where second chances are not just a theoretical thing for children your age!

"Welcome! To the H.R.I Class!"

* * *

 **U.A Meeting Room – 10:00 a.m.**

* * *

While seated on the new u-shaped table, the spectators watched the first hour of the program was starting to commence. A giant widescreen television hanged from the roof, showing a video of the auditorium happening in real time.

Nedzu already has his cup of hot tea sitting on top of his own little beverage coaster, but he did ask his assistant to help in readying the rest of the teachers their own drinks.

Endeavor was a new spectator, even though he wasn't a teacher. He took Mr. Adachi's seat and brooded as he sat on it.

"An interesting young man, that Hisaki Adachi," Nedzu said, sipping on his tea. "I've never met someone having such an inner dad."

"We'll finally see how this goes, then." The washed-up man Shota Aizawa commented.

"I really hope everything goes well…" Female pro hero Nemuri Kayama said.

"I forgot to ask, principal." Space hero Thirteen said. "What is Adachi planning to do with these children?"

"That I do not know, Thirteen." Principal Nedzu simply said, wriggling his furry little legs. "I purposely entrusted this job to Mr. Adachi, because I trust him."

While it wasn't showing, Enji Todoroki, also known as Endeavor, is hiding his utmost skepticism. As tempting it is to leave a sharp comment, he would be lying if he didn't say that he's curious.

" _Really, what does that man think he can do to 12 of these kinds of children?"_ Endeavor thought bitterly. _"Well, we wouldn't know until it fails, would we?"_

And so, as Hisaki Adachi could be seen on the screen telling the kids their own designated seats, the first step of the program has started:

Introductions.

* * *

 **U.A. Auditorium – 10:10 a.m.**

* * *

"-and that brings us to the start of the first step in our program." Hisaki Adachi said as he finished his speech. He briefly checked his watch and looked back to his little audience. "Now, why don't we start introducing each other?"

Seiji watched around him, he felt himself in the safest place to observe as he was by himself in the back of the auditorium. Wherever he looked, he could see the boredom and disinterest in each and every participant present.

"Seiji, would you like to tell us something about yourself?" Mr. Adachi said suggestively.

Seiji was then brought back to earth when his name was spoken. He immediately stood up, face burning. "My name is Seiji Orimura… I-it was a pleasure to be here." He made a small bow before sitting back down.

He wasn't sure how that introduction was, for a second he's sure that it's too plain and simple to be one.

"That's a good start, Seiji!" Mr. Adachi complimented. "What about you? Do you want to introduce yourself?"

The next individual was the girl with the scar on her neck, and Seiji could've sworn someone whistled at the sight of her. She stood up with her chin raised, and her hand on her hips. "Suki Takara, sixteen, I don't like men who stare."

She sat back down abruptly, with her obvious ego still being stroked by herself.

"It's very nice to meet you, Suki." Mr. Adachi said politely before turning to someone else. "Your turn now!"

A shaggy blue-haired boy was the one Mr. Adachi pointed at, and he was more than pleased to answer him.

"Kudou Satou at your service, sir! I like to paint! I like to laugh! And I hope we all can be good friends!" As he said this, he made a salute with his right hand, before bowing down like Seiji. He eagerly sat back down, with his unhinged smile still plastered on his face.

As the atmosphere turned somewhat awkward, Mr. Adachi's hearty chuckle broke the silence. "Thank you Kudou. Now, how about you, miss?"

This time, it was the half robotic girl who stood up. "My designated name is Mika Tetsuya. I am born with a Quirk that is called 'computer brain'. I shall be in your care, Mr. Adachi."

As Mr. Adachi gave a small clap, the whole class went silent. Not until one person called out:

"Does she come with wi-fi?"

It was a boy with ash gray hair from earlier, he never seemed to part ways from his mobile phone.

"No, I do not." Mika Tetsuya answered him before sitting back down.

"You're Yato, aren't you?" Mr. Adachi asked. "Why don't you introduce yourself?"

The boy named Yato took a small look at his surroundings, before sighing. He got up and began introducing himself. "I'm Yato Shimura." He bowed and sat down.

Seiji couldn't do anything as his expectations were crushed to a mild disappointment. As he saw the boy going back to playing on his mobile phone on full volumes, he averted his attention back to the rest of the group.

"Alright then, how about you?" Mr. Adachi said to a girl in the expensive attire.

The girl stood up, and said, "My name is Kaori Tsukinose, and I will do what I can to fit in."

As she sat down, someone else started talking.

"Kinda hard to do that now, am I right?" Said a boastful boy with a scowling smirk. It was the one with a piece of hair covering one of his eyes. "I mean, not to point out the obvious, Tsukinose. Fitting into common folks isn't really in your blood, isn't it?"

The jet black-haired girl glared back at the boy, but her dull face did not show any anger towards the boy. "I am under the impression that you hate me."

"I _abhor_ you, how about that?" The boy barked back.

Mr. Adachi trying to sort them out isn't really the best idea. "Jun, please, if you'd like you can introduce yourself now-"

"What is there to fucking say?!" The boy named Jun said with a scowl. "I'm not gonna blow smoke up your asses and say 'I will do what I can to fit in'!"

At this point, Seiji just wanted to hide under his chair and disappear into a magical world, or at least somewhere else that isn't here. He is really puzzled right now. Do the two, Jun and Kaori, knew each other?

"Good grief!" Said a sleepy-looking boy in who's sitting with his leg up. It was the same one with the wild hair that almost covered most of his face. "If you don't want to be here, then why do you fucking sign the agreement?"

Jun only gave sarcastic laugh. "You think I'm here by choice? I bet you love sleeping in a cell, huh?"

"No," the sleepy looking boy said, walking up to Jun, "but I'm gonna make you wish you _were_ in a cell."

The both of them locked their eyes, ready to tear each other apart. While the other boy is indeed taller than Jun and is looming down on him, Jun stood his ground like a very territorial honey badger.

In an instant, the ground shook, violently. Seiji could've sworn that he had almost screamed because the tremor came without warning.

"What is happening?!" Said another participant in panic.

Through the chaos, the two males are trying to one up one another. "You wanna say that again?" Jun said through gritted teeth, not bothered by the earthquake.

"Jun, Tarasu, enough of this!" Mr. Adachi shouted from the front, and it made the earthquakes stop. Both Jun and the other boy looked at him. "If you'd kindly go back to your seats, we'll continue our introductions. I beg of you, none of us here wishes the building to collapse on top of our heads!"

Tarasu shrugged before walking away from Jun.

"Tch!" Jun said as he walked away as well.

The introduction schedule continued smoothly, while there's still a hostile aura oozing around the auditorium.

When Oboro when up next, Seiji was impressed by how calm he was, facing an entire group of delinquents.

The next one was the wolf girl, whose introduction is quite the impression. "The name's Mori Kururugi! I am aiming to be the best in class!" She said with such high spirit.

Mr. Adachi seems to be pleased with this. "Wow, I'm impressed, Mori!" He commented. "Next shall be… you!"

"Who? Me?" Said the skull-faced girl. "Alright… I am Miyu Yakushi, I am sixteen years old. It was very nice to meet you all."

"What about you, Tarasu? Would you like to introduce yourself?" Mr. Adachi said to the sleepy-looking boy.

"Huh? Oh. Nah, they already knew my name, anyway." Tarasu simply said, turning down Mr. Adachi's offer. "Kobayashi's my last name if you all would like to know."

"Hey gramps, what's the point of all this blabbering, eh?" Said a burly boy with navy hair. He smashed his fists together and made a small smirk. "Why don't we get to the real stuff? I can't wait to bash someone's head in!"

"It doesn't work that way, idiot." Hissed Suki, the girl with the scar on her neck. "Don't you ever go to school? Besides, this is a reformation program. They won't let us fight anything!"

The burly boy shot her a look, but his hateful glare turned into a perverted one. "Well, aren't you a feisty girl? You're wasting your time sitting over there, you know?"

"Ugh!" Suki said with an offended gasp, covering the top part of her body and turning it away from him.

The burly boy only laughed loudly at that. "This program is a seriously funny joke!" He said impolitely, knowing very well that Mr. Adachi stood just mere feet from him.

"Date, if you'd like, you can introduce yourself." Mr. Adachi said in exasperation.

"Eh? Well, why not? All of this is pointless anyway." The boy scoffed as he stood up. "What's up, the name's Date Takehiro. Unlike dog-bitch over there, I don't give a shit to be number one. You all can't beat me anyway, so why do I even have to try?"

"What?!" Mori Kururugi shouted in disbelief. "I'll show you bitch!" She said as she stood on top of her chair with her claws out.

In the middle of the rising atmosphere of battle, Kudou Satou clapped happily. "Ooh! Fight! Fight!"

"It is a very unreasonable action to engage in combat, while in an area so fragile of destruction." The robot girl Mika said in a simple tone.

"Tell me about it," Oboro responded. "These guys are just like that, fighting's the only thing they know how to do-OOF!"

Oboro was cut off when Kudou decided to slap his head with the back of his hand. When Oboro quickly stood up, obviously angered, Kudou only challenged him more.

"Fight me, pretty boy!" Kudou said tauntingly.

"Okay, that's it!" Obor growled as he lifted his sleeves. Smoke began forming around the tall boy.

"Why don't you guys shut the fuck up and watch the show?" Tarasu Kobayashi said with a smirk. "This is going to be good!"

Seiji tried something to calm the masses. "Guys, I think-"

"Yeah, you wanna try something, dog-bitch?! Why don't you come up an' face me like a human!" Date Takehiro challenged Mori boastfully.

The skull-girl Miyu stood up as well, clearly agitated by the whole situation. "You make one move on each other, I'll tear you both to shreds!" Miyu said as she pulled out a bone shaped javelin from her shoulder.

"Why don't you sit down and mind your own fucking business?!" Jun barked at Miyu, making her even more agitated.

"How about you learn some manners?!" Miyu said challengingly. "I can teach you, and then some!" She whirled her javelin at him.

"How about you dig your own grave!" Jun grabbed at his chair and threw it to his front, deeming Miyu's javelin shot a miss. He then creates a mini earthquake and made an offensive stance. "You corpse!"

"Guys…"

"Come at me, dog-bitch!"

"You're on, lunkhead!"

"I'll break every bone in your body!"

"Go ahead and try to win, dick-breath!"

Fists are going to collide, destruction is going to ensue. Seiji could not bear to watch as they are literally trying to kill one another. There are some who decided to stay out of it, but honestly, who'd be convinced when they say they are going to 'stay out of it'?

Seiji hoped for something to happen, he's not going to die in a crossfire today.

Both Mori and Date threw a punch at each other, both of them screaming on top of their lungs.

Mr. Adachi did something outrageous and stood between them.

Surprisingly, the lion-maned man caught both their fists in time, with only his bare hands. He didn't look pained, it's as if he's used to being thrown in front of a punch.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Mr. Adachi barked furiously, still holding Mori and Date's fists.

Both Date and Mori backed away from him in shock. Seiji also felt a weird aura surrounding Mr. Adachi's very being.

"You all should be ashamed of how you're acting! There will be no more fighting after this, understood?!" Mr. Adachi demanded, his gaze lowering dangerously.

Nobody said anything, they are all frozen to the floor.

But Jun dared to talk back. "Fuck you! I'm not spending any more time in this half-assed school! If you want me to stay so bad, then come here and beg to kiss my ass!"

"None of you will be getting out." Mr. Adachi told them coldly, taunting them with a remote that he took out from his pocket. "Not until we ensure the success of this program."

As he pressed the button, all the doors and windows of the auditorium are suddenly locked shut with layers and layers of metal panels. There wasn't any sign of escape from the room.

"What the hell are you aiming, gramps?" Date demanded furiously. "Open the fucking doors!"

"Not until I receive all of your cooperation." Mr. Adachi responded unemotionally.

"What if I don't want to?" Jun said, stepping forward. "What are you gonna do about it, huh?!"

"You see," Mr. Adachi said calmly, "from where I'm seeing you all have two choices: accept to follow the rules of the program and ensure its success, or fight me and win your freedom…"

Seiji gasped internally, in incredulity.

The rest of the students couldn't believe what they were hearing as well.

* * *

"What the hell is he thinking?!" Endeavor said as he watched the chaos ensuing. "Get him out of there, he'll get himself killed!"

Nedzu prompted him to sit back down. "Don't worry, Todoroki. I fully entrust Mr. Adachi in his decision."

"Woah, this is mad!" Present Mic commented.

"Principal, do you know what these kids are capable of?!"

Nedzu only smiled and took another sip from his tea. "I really have to ask you this, Todoroki: do _you_ know who Hisaki Adachi is?"

Endeavor said nothing, his mouth went agape and began muttering nonsensical things. The both of them looked back towards the screen.

* * *

Jun locked his eye into Mr. Adachi's emerald green ones. The both of them at a complete stalemate at the moment.

"O-oy… what the hell are you saying, old man?!" Jun said. Even he's in disbelief.

" _What the hell are you saying, Adachi?!"_ Seiji thought fearfully of what's about to come.

The atmosphere turned from intense to unbelievably dangerous to be in.

Seiji looked around the room to see the other participants present, while some of them also looked terribly confused at what to do at the moment, the rest had a fiery look of anger in their eyes.

Jun took a few steps closer and closer towards Mr. Adachi as his right arm vibrated as his hand curled into a fist.

"Do you know what you just asked for?!" He raised his fist high and pulled his arm back.

* * *

"Oh, so his hand _vibrates_!" Pro hero Midnight said with a smirk.

"Someone please get her out of here," Aizawa said in a bored tone.

* * *

Both Jun and Mr. Adachi is now facing each other, and while Jun is already readying his attack, Mr. Adachi just stood there without any look of concern on his face.

"Go ahead and _DIE_!"

Jun's fist whirled forward, and the sheer force of the impact created a loud shockwave that made everyone stumbled back. An invisible force shook the air around them, making everyone's ears pop.

It was comparable to when you've just got struck in the vicinity of a bomb.

Through the dust and confusion, they all looked ahead of them. A silhouette of two people could be seen, with Jun's attack deemed a failure as his hand sat helplessly in the grip of Mr. Adachi.

Seiji could not believe what he's seeing, Jun's attack must've been too much for anyone to take!

"That's quite the power, Jun." Mr. Adachi commented, squeezing Jun's hand. "Is brute force all you've got? Why not show me some techniques?"

"GRRR!" Jun went and began throwing punches at Mr. Adachi. The whole auditorium felt a blast of shockwaves here and there, making everyone's ears vibrate agonizingly.

Mr. Adachi did nothing but dodge, parry, and block. But something was off when they collided their body parts against one another.

It seems that none of Jun's attacks actually hit Mr. Adachi.

It's like there was some kind of a barrier protecting him.

Jun couldn't comprehend the next thing that was whirled at him, and when Mr. Adachi's fist collided with Jun's face, he went flying. Unfortunately, Jun landed painfully on a group of chairs, signaling his crash with a loud bang.

Mr. Adachi's strength is not to be messed with.

"Those moves…"

Seiji looked around from behind the chair that he used to hide and saw Tarasu Kobayashi with his foot on top of a chair, and one of his arms covered in thick diamonds.

"Those are military hand-to-hand combative styles…" Tarasu said as his face turned into a predatory grin. "This is getting better and better already."

" _Military combat…"_ Seiji thought, looking back at Mr. Adachi. _"So that's the kind of man he is…"_

* * *

Inside the meeting room, even the teachers are awestruck.

"W-what… just happened?!" Endeavor said, his eyebrow twitching.

They all just witnessed what Mr. Adachi did, and couldn't believe how he had taken that much power without flinching.

Aizawa is perplexed, Thirteen even more so. They all didn't expect the skill and strength Mr. Adachi has within him.

"His Quirk is… barrier?" Aizawa questioned.

"Hey, Enji." Nedzu began. "Do you know the story of the greatest, most dangerous mercenary group in Japan?"

Endeavor, and the rest of the U.A staff looks at Nedzu with high curiosity on their faces.

"They have formed fifteen years ago, under the ministry of defense. Back then, the military wasn't used very frequently just like today. The age of the pro heroes surfaced the most at the time, and they had all the power to stop wars all over the world. But alas, their fighting averted to the small villainous acts all around Japan, unlike the military which deals with all kinds of terrorism that threatened the nation.

"Funds were low, as they are used to grow the golden age of heroes. But something arises in the chaotic world of good versus evil. Back then, Hisaki Adachi was only 24 when he first joined the mercenaries, and his group soon became the topic of conspiracy all around the world.

"His group consists of criminals, outlaws, and all kinds of bad people put together to collect money from doing the dirty work. I never really asked Hisaki what had brought them together like that, or why did they decide to work together, but he did tell me that some of them knew each other during the time they were drafted to war. And knowing Hisaki, I'd say that he knew an old war buddy in his group as well.

"Nobody is really sure what their intentions actually are, some say they are even a private military company from an unknown country with the sole purpose to spy on another country in result of a cold war, but the media always said that they are the true terrorists after all. The government never denied using them as their trump card in winning a secret war against a foreign threat, but soon the word died out when people slowly began hearing less from the mercenaries."

After Nedzu ended his explanation, he added, "Point is, Hisaki is very experienced in both combat and command. He was famous for his nickname, 'Silver Shield', back in the army. His Quirk matches his nickname too!" Then, Nedzu pointed to the screen. "See how he took Jun Hamada's attack like it was nothing? His Quirk acts like a rechargeable battery: every force you throw at him, he'll give it back to you. And just like any other battery, it'll explode if it takes in too much."

All of them seemed to have understood what Nedzu explained, and looked back towards the screen. All gulping in horror at the same time.

* * *

Mr. Adachi is at the most troubled state compared to anyone in the room. Jun, Date, Tarasu, Miyu, and Mori all decided to strike at him at the same time. There are no strategies, they all just aimed to land a punch.

Seiji wasn't having the time of his life, either.

Kudou, while being not as helpful as a person, decided to create conflict himself by agitating the rest of the children present. And he did it smoothly, too.

Suki, while being a complete egoistical girl, had enough of the angered masses and decided to stop it all by herself. Her eyes also turned purple as she battled against Oboro, whose lower body is covered completely in smoke.

The always-distracted boy Yato had enough of Kudou's shenanigans and decided to fight him. Which resulted in sprays of metallic-like substance that looks dangerously like mercury, which landed close to where Seiji was hiding.

Seiji quickly tuck-and-rolled away from where he sat before his very body dies of mercury poisoning. The loud sounds of crashes and bangs filled the auditorium, and Seiji even had to duck in order to avoid being hit by a flying Tarasu.

" _THIS IS LITERALLY THE WORST TIME OF MY LIFE!"_ Seiji screamed inside of his head.

Seiji saw two people, Kaori and Mika, standing back to back trying to fend off the flying chairs and stray attacks that are thrown against them.

"In this situation, is it acceptable to call my very being to be: 'in deep shit'?" Mika said with an unusually singular tone.

"Talk to me when we get out of this place…" Kaori said bitterly. She then noticed Seiji running for his life in the distance, and her eyes widened. "YOU THERE! LOOK OUT!"

"Look ou-?"

Seiji had no time to react, he felt something big and heavy colliding with his entire back, bringing him to fall face first to the floor while still being crushed by an unknown object.

As he felt a widespread pain on his face, the entire auditorium was filled with groans of agony.

"What the hell was that?"

"It felt like something invisible had hit me in the face!"

Seiji couldn't see it, probably because he's being crushed by the weight of Jun on top of him, but almost everyone in the room seemed to have experienced the same pain he felt.

Almost one-thirds of the classroom fell into a spreading eagled position while lying on their backs, complaining about the pain on their forehead.

The rest violently tried to rub off the unknown pain in their face, not knowing where it came from.

Meanwhile, Mr. Adachi stood there in the midst of destruction, cleaning his suit and observing the children one by one.

"Pathetic." Mr. Adachi spat poisonously. "I will give you three hours of detention here, to think about what you all have done. Most of you have lived in the same situation, so I trust that there will be less to no ruckus. And after that, you'll either choose to accept the program, or face me again."

Mr. Adachi left the auditorium while rubbing his forehead in confusion.

The door that he used to leave locked itself a few seconds after. Then, several other doors appeared on each wall on the auditorium with loud mechanical whirrings. Not only that, the auditorium itself seemed to have shaken and rattled as if thousands of cogs are moving on their own.

A few seconds later, Jun lifted himself off of Seiji's limp body with an irritated groan. "You bet I'm going to fight you again… asshole…"

Mika was the one who came up to him. "Unadvisable." She said. "It'll be more logical to simply agree with his terms and conditions-"

Jun placed his hands in his pockets and gave Mika a scowling glare. "Fuck off!"

"You are acting unreasonably, it is not a logical way to act under such circumstances. There is no reason for Jun to-"

"I SAID FUCK OFF!" Jun shouted ferociously, pushing Mika away from him until she fell on her rear. "Metal maggot…"

All of them, including Seiji, watched as Jun stomped away angrily, and Mori trying to comfort Mika after the ordeal the both of them had.

No matter how Seiji tried to look at it, it all seemed hopeless.

The students are hopeless, the teachers… Mr. Adachi could've done better…

Seiji sighed as he stood up, exchanging glances to one another.

But it's all the same, all of them still had their own reasons to not work with one another.

Seiji's dream has steps, and he's hesitating to take them if it meant socializing and being friends with people like these.

* * *

 **Sorry, this chapter came out late.**

 **I literally stared at my unfinished homework and yelled, "Fuck it. I'm writing."**

 **There's going to be a change of plans in updating chapters. Originally, I wanted to publish a chapter at least once every week. It's possible, but I won't be having any break time by doing that.**

 **So updating chapters might be late than promised in the future.**

 **Anyway, how was that chapter? That was also written in my spare time so I didn't have time to check it all for mistakes :v**

 **Thanks for reading and... leave a review!**

 **.**

 **Seiji has to think fast!**

 **How could he convince all of his future classmates to not try to bite each other throats off?**

 **Luckily, a few of them came to his aid and decided to help him.**

 **Unfortunately, Jun is being his usual self? Is he going to be the hardest task Seiji has to face? Or is he going to play by the rules and both become heroes in the future?**

* * *

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

 **R &R**


	4. The Strength in Numbers (part 1)

**U.A Auditorium- Musutafu, Japan, 12.30 p.m.**

* * *

Seiji walked around the auditorium, ruffling his hair as if he had an army of lice in it.

He never felt so hopeless in his entire life: there's literally nothing he can do to fix the situation he's in right now. Well, there might be something if he went haywire and sang crazy songs and ate his shoes, but that wasn't much.

When he looked around again, he seriously considered throwing himself off of a building, well, if he actually had that option. Chairs were scattered everywhere with some of them already resting in pieces (RIP chairs, Seiji thought solemnly), the walls and the floors had visible dents in the metal panels everywhere, and one simply did not escape from all the loud bickering in the room.

Today was supposed to be Seiji's big day. It was supposed to be a start of a new life for Seiji Orimura. But how the hell WAS he supposed to fix this?

Seiji paced back and forth, eating his nails like he was waiting for a nurse to tell him whether he just had an illegitimate child or not.

Just thirty minutes earlier, the whole group of participants were a choice-well, if you could call THAT a choice: agree to the rules and continue the program, or fight Mr. Adachi, the man who took down several dangerous combatants that actually posed a threat in a single move, and they had made him serious for maybe one second.

It was obvious which choice Seiji was going to pick (well, obvious to Seiji himself), but he couldn't say the same for the rest.

If he had to be specific, the hateful short boy, Jun.

Seiji's eyes swept around the room and easily caught him trying to break through the layers of heavy metal plating that covered the main entrance. Every punch shook the ground and the room, as Seiji felt a little shudder on his feet.

It was hard to look at Jun, the same way it was hard to look a Varey light without some form of shading.

Fortunately, the people present in the auditorium gradually stopped their bickering and decided to seclude themselves in different parts of the room. Not that it mattered-the room was small enough to not make much difference but at least it was quiet.

Seiji noticed a girl sitting near where he stood. She was the one who started Jun's vexation, also known as Kaori Tsukinose.

Her legs crossed as she sat on one of the few intact chairs that remained, her eyes solely focusing on the angered boy far across the room.

Her face had no expression whatsoever, and Seiji suspected that it had always been dull and blank. Sure, there was always that little twist where she seemed human, but that wasn't saying a lot.

Before Seiji could say anything, Kaori noticed him watching her from the corner of her eye. She stood up straight and said, "Hi."

"Hey." Seiji returned the gesture.

"Seiji, wasn't it?"

Seiji nodded abruptly. "Yeah, that's right."

"How do you suppose we handle this situation?"

"Eh?" Seiji said in confusion. "I don't know. I'm not even sure if I should do anything." He said, and he hadn't been that sincere for a long time.

The both of them went silent until Seiji remembered something. "If…I may ask, why did you choose to be on the program?"

Kaori's face twitched in a way that reminded Seiji of melting ice. "Same as yours, and everyone else's, I suppose. I might be wrong."

"You're right though…" Seiji admitted.

Seiji then heard a voice calling as someone walked towards him. "Yo! Excuse me, you two!" It was that wolf girl Mori Kururugi, with a smile on her face. "I heard you have been talking about the program earlier. Can we join in?"

He saw both Mika and Oboro behind her, and it was certainly a relief from the madness and continuous "BANG BANG BANG" that was resonating around the room.

Seiji's eyes widened in surprise. "M-Mori… Oboro…"

"We're glad," Kaori muttered as she stood, approaching the newcomers. "We need to act fast if we want a successful result when Mr. Adachi calls us to the stadium."

Before anyone could add anything, Kaori continued. "I have a plan that should be effective enough, but I'm going to need all of you for this to—"

Oboro snorted loudly. "Did I miss the memo that named you the leader?"

Kaori shot him a puzzled look. "What?"

"Forgive me for his skepticism. That was my mistake." Mika said, elbowing Oboro and shoving him back. "Please understand that, despite what most of us here are known for, you are one of the most dangerous people in the room."

Seiji's mouth fell open at that comment. He absentmindedly thought how funny he was looking. Glancing back at Kaori, he realized the uneasy tingling in his gut. He'd heard that surname somewhere before.

"I thought we were on the same page…" Kaori said with her gaze lowered.

"We are!" Mori said, glaring back at her two companions. "Does it even matter who any of us are right now? We need to figure out what to do next, together!"

A dull noise that sounded like a laugh broke through their circle. "Oy… is there even a brain in this little group of yours?"

It was the sullen looking boy, Tarasu Kobayashi. He squatted on the stage near the group of five, the small and almost-invisible smirk greeted them. Seiji thought that a predator would've worn a face like that when it hunted if it could make human expressions.

"Did you even hear what that Adachi guy said? Each and every one of us has to fight him, or submit to his terms." Tarasu scratched his oily hair and paused. "Or at least that's what he said."

"Well, we're aware…" Seiji answered him.

"And quite deliberate to do that…" Mika, too, said.

"Yeah, well, that includes Hamada, Takara, and Takehiro doesn't it?" Tarasu jeered. "It's virtually impossible! Unless… y'all got any plans to get any of them on board? Or are you just going to wait for some sort of a miracle?" The group of five exchanged glances.

"We're working on it," Kaori told him. "And how about you? Are you also planning to give up on the program, even though you've obviously signed the agreement?"

Seiji couldn't help but agree with her in believing the hypocrisy in Tarasu's words, obviously, everyone here had to sign an agreement before joining. And, again, obviously, everyone did, because if they did otherwise, none of them would be here by now.

That… also included Jun Hamada isn't it?

" _Did Jun also had to sign the agreement?"_ Seiji thought to himself. _"He must have a reason to do so, right?"_

Tarasu's head perked up at Kaori after her reply, he made a grin. "You can bet every yen in Japan that I had given practically _everything_ to get to this fucking program. But seeing that I have to work with people such as these? Naaah! That's a red flag."

"You're going to have to try and work together, then." Kaori insisted him. "Adachi gave us two options, remember-?"

"Don't get cocky with me, Tsukinose." Tarasu said as he jumped down from the stage and approached her with his hands pocketed. "I've worked with your family for years, don't think that I would give you the same gratification." He almost bumped her on the shoulder as he walked away from the group. "Besides, maybe if I turn myself to Jun Hamada's side, the one with the most power to very likely escape from here, I'll get the opportunity to disappear again!"

"H-hey, Kaori, what is he talking about?" Seiji said in a hushed tone.

A desperate thought entered Seiji's head. _"Who… are these people actually are?"_

"It's none of your business." Kaori returned to him coldly, before looking back at Tarasu. "So that's it, then? You're going to run, right after signing an agreement?"

"I am an opportunist, not a loyalist," Tarasu replied. "If an agreement means no worth to me, then who am I to continue it?"

"Not entirely true." A voice piped in, it was Mika's voice. "You show so much idealism in gaining an advantage in certain circumstances, as well as an existence of an agreement settled between a party of you and an anonymous party. The H.R.I program must've been a great opportunity for you… at some point… so that makes you a—"

""-Mercenary."" Both Kaori and Mori finished for her. They both looked at each other in surprise.

"H-hold on, what?!" Seiji barges in and intruded the tense atmosphere. "So you're telling me… that not only is everyone here is a _certified_ delinquent, some of them have actually _killed_ people?!"

"Doesn't make any much difference to our situation." Oboro scoffed at him.

"Are you serious?! Of course, it does!" Seiji said in a rampant. "Do you know what they would do to you if you _disagreed_?! I — we don't get another chance after this!"

"Then how, if I may ask, do you propose we do that?!" Tarasu jeered.

Kaori faced him with cold eyes. "If you would just simply tone down your attitude a bit, maybe we could—!"

"Gihihihihi!" Laughed a maniacal voice around them. A boy with shaggy blue hair just appeared near them, sitting one of the seats in the auditorium. The boy smiled at them widely, a frozen expression that made the hair on the back of their necks rise.

"The hero's group are fighting!" He said in a sing-song tone. "Hey! Hey! How are you going to convince everyone here to join the program?" He shouted at them loudly.

Everyone looked at him with horrified expressions on their faces. Everyone present now had their attention reverted to the group of five.

"How are you going to do it, Seiji?" Kudou Satou said with a laugh. "How are you going to convince them?"

"How about you shut yer trap!" Mori screamed angrily at him, tauntingly waving her fist in his direction. "You're only causing more trouble for everyone!"

"Mori, please!" Seiji cuts her off, surprising Mori. He then turned his attention towards Tarasu, "I know that there is no reason for you to trust me, but let me just say this: we don't have to fight anymore!"

Seiji backtracked. "If we do have to fight, then fight Mr. Adachi! He did a number on you guys last time when you tried to attack him, maybe this time he'll pull his punches!" He said sarcastically.

Some of them looked at him in spite. Then, it was Kaori's turn to speak up, while sighing. "He is right, this program is our last hope, and if not then it's our _opportunity_ to reform ourselves for the greater good, even when it means that we have to work together."

She shot a mild look at both Tarasu and Oboro.

"I fully agree with you, Kaori Tsukinose." Mika the robotic girl said politely.

"Well, I wouldn't go against Adachi again. So yeah, count me in Miss Metal." Mori said enthusiastically.

Seiji tried to ignore that, feeling unsure of what she actually meant. He crossed his arms, thinking back to the minutes when everything went downhill pretty quickly. Sighing deeply inside his throat, Seiji pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation.

"Look, I don't know how we can do this… I just know that we basically have to, because there is no one else that would give this chance to us." Seiji said, looking down in contempt. "If it comes down to it, then, we have to—"

A footstep approached them, a boy's voice reached out. "Do what, Orimura? What can someone like _you_ possibly do?"

This time, it was Jun Hamada. He shot a cold look at Seiji, who froze in response. There was something about looking at his single visible eye that made his presence twice more ghastly.

"Same goes for all of you, idiots." He added, lowering his gaze to the point where his glaring eyes are masked by his ruffled hair. "None of you can be heroes, get that into your heads already." Then he continued to utter the word, "Jeez, can anyone here fucking get over it?"

Kaori took a step forward. "You do know that you are throwing away your only chance to reform yourself, don't you." She said with a straight face.

"But for what worth, Tsukinose?" Jun said with his nose in the air. He crossed his arms menacingly and smirked at Kaori's direction. "You think by becoming a hero, people will still take you for who you are? Why don't you get your head out of the clouds, and face reality, _Tsukinose_?"

The way Jun pressed on the word 'Tsukinose' showed just how much he hated Kaori.

Everyone heard how loud Jun was being, and even those who are minding their own business got their attention caught. Seiji felt a rush of indescribable fear when he realized that they became the center of attention.

"What's wrong with you!?" Mori shouted out, puffing out her chest. "Are you not even in the slightest realization that we'll be considered as heroes!?"

"If you can overlook that, then maybe you overlooked this!" Jun pointed out harshly. "You're fucking deluded! How the hell do you expect people to accept someone like you?!"

"That's pretty big talk from someone so small…" Oboro finally piped in as he said through gritted teeth. He went up to Jun, every stomp puffs out ounces worth of white smoke. "How about you come up here and _try_ to fight someone way past your size."

Jun's scowl grew even more horrid even further. "Tch! You know, I can guess that this bullshit program is the last option you can take. What are you, a slave? You sure dress like one."

Oboro's eye twitches as Jun mentioned his dirty and baggy clothing, and thus, as Oboro got a foot apart from the small delinquent, the towering boy lifts Jun by his collar. "I honestly don't care what you say about my clothes, pipsqueak… Although, I'm curious how long a small punching bag like you would last."

Seiji gulped all of his leftover salivae, this is definitely not going to end well.

"Get… your hands… AWAY FROM ME!" And with that, a sudden bang of unknown force filled the auditorium. Jun's Quirk must've been activated again, and just from the shockwave that he created in thin air, there's no telling how strong he can be.

Oboro stumbled back, much like the rest of the people present. As Jun was released from Oboro's grip, he fell to his knees on the floor.

Jun coughed, sharply and painfully. A growl escaped his lips, and his gaze went upwards as his fist clenched at his chest.

"You… idiots!" He shouted through a cough. "You want to waste your life here, FINE! People like you wouldn't even graduate to being heroes anyway! You're all just sheep following a pipe dream!"

All of those who listened cringed at the tone of his voice. That was until someone else joined in.

"Oya, Oya!" Shouted a boastful voice, the bulky, towering boy Date Takehiro stomped over towards the boy in front of him. "Aren't you an annoying piece of shit?"

Jun could only narrow his eyes at the sight of him, but there was a glimpse of doubt in his eyes.

"Hey, Smoky-kid!" Date yelled as he turned his attention towards Oboro. "Ten bucks and I'll punish this piece of shit for you!"

"That shall be enough, Takehiro!" Kaori stepped in. "We've had enough of any unnecessary fights today."

"Izzat so?" Date pressed, a toothy grin escaped his lips. "And not even one jab at the stomach would get you, cutie, satisfied?"

"I'm afraid it wouldn't," Kaori said calmly. "Now, if we must come into an argument, then let's talk about how we should handle our current—"

"DIE!" Jun's shout filled the whole auditorium, a giant quake filled the whole room as Jun's roundhouse kick connected with Date's stomach.

The exact force that should've blown away Date's insides backward only threw him across the room. To which Date responded with a slight cough and a laugh after he crashed into several chairs. "Hehe, and here I thought that I ain't going to have a fun time killing you…"

"Tch!" Jun said sharply, standing up from his current position. "Would've not held back with that kick if I knew you'd still be alive. I know hell's going to be fun for you."

"OH SNAP!" Kudou Satou shouted.

In which, Mori barked with a loud "SHUT UP!"

"This is bad!" Seiji remarked fearfully, glancing at Kaori whilst in need of help. "Should we do something?!"

Kaori bit her bottom lip. "There's nothing we can do! We'll get killed if any of us tried to interfere!"

The people who listened to her can only look forward to worry. Was it true? That nobody can do anything at all to stop them?

" _Talk about a disappointing end…"_ Seiji thought inside of his head.

Meanwhile, back at the two people who are about to tear each other out limb from limb, the atmosphere around them changed completely. Jun and Date faced each other with a great distance between them.

Jun clenched his fists and got into a stance, a formidable one at that.

Date cracked his knuckles and grinned, he then unusually got into running position.

With a kick of his legs, Date pushed himself off of the ground. At the same time, Jun pulled his right fist back, obviously going for a strong jab. But Date, while speeding towards Jun, gained so much acceleration that it's inhumane; steam also seemed to be puffing out of his nose, much like a locomotive.

The two was going to collide; a speeding train, against a solid wall; an unstoppable force meets an immovable object.

But before they could meet each other's fate, something came in between them.

A giant wall of a pale colored object, spiky and huge. It came protruding out of the floor and was followed by several similar made pillars. Jun's fist, which whirls out one powerful shockwave, collided with the pillars, the same goes for Date who ran at the wall at incredible high speed.

A blast of wind and splinters of white flew everywhere, and instinctively, Jun hid behind the biggest shield he could find: the tall boy Oboro.

While Kaori did the same, the rest seemed to have found their own methods to shield themselves from the storm of tiny debris; like Tarasu who created a shield of diamond with both his arms.

As the fog of white dust scattered away, the view of Jun and Date became clearer. The both of them are also on the ground when their powers struck the unknown wall of… bones?

"That… should be enough…" Said a voice through the smoke. It was revealed to be the skeleton girl, Miyu Yakushi. In front of her shaky feet was a trail of bones protruding out of the ground, and she seemed to be controlling those bone pillars with a throw of her hand.

Kaori, realizing that Miyu was already barely hanging on her two feet, switched herself with a nearby chair, and grabbed Miyu before she could fall.

"Are you alright?" Kaori asked her in concern.

"I think I've used too much of my Quirk…" Miyu admitted, making a half smile. "Don't worry about me, it's _them_ you should worry about."

"Kaori!" Seiji cried out as he ran towards the both of them. As he saw the skeleton girl, he gave an awkward scratch on the back of his head. "That was… amazing. What you did, I mean."

Miyu said nothing at first. "Don't sweat it… I heard you guys were planning to agree on the program, so… I don't mind doing what I can to… you know…"

Kaori quickly cuts in as Miyu's face turned away in embarrassment. "You've proven yourself good enough." She said with a reassuring smile.

"God… DAMN!" Date shouted out bombastically from the piles of bone-like debris that sat on top of him. "Bone wall, huh? Well, how about that? Strong enough to withstand my sprint."

"Fucking… hell…" Jun said bitterly through gritted teeth, he was seemed to be holding his shaky hand as he sat on the floor.

"SHUT UP!" The voice of Suki Katara rang out in the distance. She stood up from the lone seat that she sat on, her eyes glowed a color of violent purple as she screamed at Jun. "Can't you people be any louder?! It's bad enough that I have to be trapped in this place with no way out, but I have to do it with you guys?!"

She sat down, fists clenched angrily and her arms folded in an offensive manner. There was literally nothing that she wouldn't do to get out of here.

"Heh…" Date started, picking himself up from the ground. "Talk about a bitch." He then proceeded to walk towards Jun, and as he flexed his shoulders, he said: "Ready for round two, you little shit?"

Crunching on the bone debris on the floor, Jun also walked towards the much bigger boy. "Any day, Muscle-brain…" He replied, wiping sweat from his cheek.

Tension arose once again.

Just as the two of them are only a mere feet away from each other, Seiji shouted out, "ENOUGH!"

Seiji stood in front of both Kaori and Miyu, shielding them from the dangerously threatening fight that would've occurred if Seiji didn't do anything.

"DID YOU GUYS SERIOUSLY NOT HEAR WHAT ADACHI SAID?!" Seiji shouted out angrily, there was something that's suddenly burning inside of him. "THREE. HOURS! That's like, what!? Half an hour left to decide what we are supposed to be doing by then?!

"I know you all would've preferred to NOT go against the guy who just threw all of your fucking asses like they were grasses on a mowing day! But, come on!" Seiji added. "At least show some effort into it!"

"Tch!" Jun spat. "What makes you think that—"

"I know you signed the contract too, Hamada!" Seiji cuts him off with a furious point of a finger. "All of us here did! And at some point, we had the dream of being someone else—of being someone _good_! Better than we've ever been before!"

Seiji then dared to ask, "What changed?!"

That caused some gears for most people here to turn abruptly. Some exchanged glances, some hung their heads towards their feet.

"I am going to agree with Adachi!" Seiji admitted shamelessly. "If anyone's here going to do the same, I'm willing to be more than grateful."

A silence filled the auditorium, not until a calm voice spoke up. "You know I have your back, Orimura." Kaori Tsukinose said.

"I… guess I'll join in too." Oboro shrugged. "I mean, we get dorms, right?"

"That's what I heard!" Mori said enthusiastically, she smiled to herself as she said: "I can't wait to have a new life, soon…"

"I too wish for reconciliation with society," Mika said, bowing down her head politely. "I believe I shall 'count myself in'."

Tarasu pondered for a moment. "Whatever, man…" He said under his breath, half-heartedly letting his life go with the flow of where the rest of the class is going.

Miyu didn't say it, but she had already proven herself a willing member of the program by her actions earlier.

Although Jun and Date, both are hatefully looking away from each other. Jun having his hands hidden inside his black jacket, and Date crossing his arms defensively.

"Hey, is there a spot left?" Shouted Kudou Satou from a distance. He was waving at the group as he squatted on top of a lone chair in the auditorium. "Ooh! I like where this is going! Hero stuuuuuff! So awesooome!" He squealed with excitement.

Meanwhile, Suki thought of herself to be much more than these people. Although she honestly believed in something from this program.

She didn't even bother to listen further to the ramblings of these lowlifes. Curious as she may be to see what ridiculous plans they plan to make as a way to convince even the most heinous people like Jun to move to their side, she was still headstrong to believe in what she definitely KNOW as a good option:

And that was to do nothing, while begrudgingly wait for someone to ask her what SHE plans to do at the moment.

"Heh…" was all she could say. "What a rip off school…"

"You'd rather be here, though…" Said a lone voice from near her.

Her eyes snapped open in surprise, and she saw a grey-haired boy sitting alone with his feet up on another chair. The same boy that dared to speak to her, wasn't even paying any attention towards her, unlike that rectangular mobile phone that he never seemed to get tired off.

Realizing what the boy said earlier, she lets out a scoff. "And why is that, pray tell?"

The grey-haired boy, now Suki remembered by the name of Yato Shimura, turned his head back to her. "Because you hate it back home, don't you?"

"Why I—" She sputtered out, dumbstruck. "—and how do you come up with that ridiculous conclusion?!"

"Your scar." Yato pointed out, there was something soft and worrying about his voice. "I know abuse when I see one…"

Suki Takara immediately stood up, her lower lip trembling. Yato, after he paused his game, looked at Suki straight in the eye as though wary about what stupid thing she's about to do.

"If you've got something against me then come up here and say it!" Suki threatened, her eyes glowing a light haze of purple.

"… No, nothing of that sort." Yato said calmly, standing up from where he sat. "I just think that it's funny, watching you believe that you yourself are not cut out to be a hero."

Suki gave a lopsided, violent smile. "And what does that supposed to mean? You think that I'm crazy enough to even want to be here? Fat chance!"

"Well, you did had to sign a contract. So in a way, Seiji Orimura's last statement was proven." Yato replied. "I also believe that anyone can be a hero, even if you think otherwise."

Suki's face was filled with puzzlement. "Wha—"

"Well, whatever," Yato said, dismissing her confusion. "If you want to join the hero's group, be my guest."

"Why would I?" Suki pressed. "Nobody cared if I did."

"Perhaps…" Yato said, stopping in his tracks. "But I wouldn't say the same after you did."

And with that, he left to join Seiji Orimura's group.

An expanding ideal, in the shape of these children working together. And yet… some still refused to follow.

* * *

 **U.A Meeting Room- 12.45 a.m.**

* * *

"Should you really fight these children?" Aizawa asked curiously, his face hiding behind his white scarf as he swiveled around his rotating chair to look at Mr. Adachi, who seemed to be readying for his next move.

The circular meeting table was dim lit from the giant screen in front of it. When Aizawa dared to ask a question, everyone else that was present looked at Mr. Adachi as if they were expecting a life-changing quote from him.

"I shouldn't…" Mr. Adachi muttered unsurely. "But alas, I will have to see what they have decided for myself…"

He smiled as he said that, then he added, "I'm happy for that Seiji, though. He seemed to be handling the situation better than I expected."

Aizawa lets out triple dots. "You're willing to push yourselves to the boundaries that make even the sanest man, to ask you what the hell you are doing."

"Sorry, but, I don't follow." Mr. Adachi said with a raised eyebrow.

"Mr. Adachi… why do you go through all of this yourself?" Asked Nemuri Kayama, also known as the pro hero Midnight. "We are right here, you know. You could've just asked for some assistance if you needed."

Slyly, Midnight also added under her breath, "You know I'll assist you with _anything_ you want…"

Aizawa seemed to have been the only one who heard that and ignored it at the same time. "As a teacher, I should be interfering. But as this is a special event, I think I'll let it slide. Besides, since when have I got this much entertainment?"

Mr. Adachi only looked at him and half-smiled. "I'm glad you liked it. And… knowing them, I guess it's best to say that they'll recognize me the most; I'm the one they're most familiar with." He then proceeds to point at the giant screen, "And thanks to one Seiji Orimura, this'll be much easier."

"Although," Space Hero Thirteen started, "noticing how hostile that Jun Hamada can be, are you sure you'll still be able to change his mind? Has Seiji Orimura has gotten him in enough restrains to agree to the terms and agreements?"

"Of course not." Mr. Adachi said simply, sighing after. "That is why I shall greet them at the tournament at this instance."

"No way…" Midnight said in awe. "You're actually willing to fight them again?"

"If I must." Mr. Adachi said sharply, walking towards the entrance door towards the outside of the meeting room. "But don't worry, though. I'll take care of it somehow."

The teachers exchanged worried glances. "Should we… come with?"

"No! No…" Mr. Adachi immediately denied them. "I will need you guys later. There's something I want to do first before that."

As Mr. Adachi disappeared from the room, Aizawa turned back towards the table. "That man is something else…"

"I know…" Space Hero Thirteen said with a nod. "But… I have to admit that I admire him, as well. When he told us that these children are nothing more than ordinary children made me think of who I am without my space suit."

The rest nodded their heads in understanding.

"But well…" Yawned a boastful voice from one end of the table. It was the pro hero Endeavor, kicking his foot up and resting back to his rotating chair. "I don't think that we all can agree that this will come out good…"

Hearing that, everyone else turned to hang their heads at the realization, well, except for Aizawa.

" _How long has it been?"_ Aizawa asked himself, looking at the wristwatch on his right arm. _"Almost three hours, huh…"_

Swiveling at his chair, Aizawa looked back towards the screen that records all of the things that are currently happening at the quarantined auditorium.

Ignoring the facts that the damages these kids have done by themselves are already costing a lot of money, he must say that he was surprised to see this much progress by leaving them in detention for three hours straight. Most of the time, Aizawa would've expelled these kinds of behavior right away. No questions asked.

But then he remembered what Mr. Adachi said: that children aren't villains unless society wants them to be. And these children, they already know what they want to be.

Putting two and two together, that meant: "Adachi picked the right group of kids, huh?" Aizawa said under his breath.

* * *

 **CLANG!**

 **WHIRRR!**

 **CLANG!**

Everyone thought that the metallic panels on both the windows and doors are finally going to open up after three hours. But surprisingly, instead of the metallic panels, the whole entire wall on one side of the auditorium opened up.

On the wall that's on the side of the auditorium stage, it split apart like an elevator door and afternoon light broke into the crack.

Seiji took a few steps back, instinctively covering his eyes with his arms.

Surprisingly, the whole process of the wall opening up wasn't that bad if compared to Jun Hamada's tantrum earlier. But even then the class was still too puzzled to move even an inch.

The loud mechanical whirs stopped abruptly, and from the inside of the auditorium, they all can see the massive land that took place outside.

"" _The stadium!""_ Everyone thought at the same time, showered by the light of day.

Starting from Kaori who walked out first, one by one they all followed with. And, as if on cue, they all could not believe the scenery that they saw with their own eyes.

The sheer size of the whole foundation is gigantic! The stadium was an oval-shaped, open building. It featured a stand with three floors and several screens as big as how people said that it was.

The arena of the stadium itself consisted of a circular space with a flat square of concrete in the center, which is surrounded by grass. There are many gates that lead in and out of the field.

But what caught the eyes of the class the most was the man standing in the middle of the concrete square. Mr. Adachi stood there powerfully, his lion mane-like hair caught the spring wind and his business suit followed the gesture.

"This'll be where you all be proving your worth in battle in the annual sports festival." Mr. Adachi said with a voice loud enough to be heard through the entire stadium. "Pro heroes all gather up to see if U.A has what it takes to create the very foundation of heroism, and through this event, students are given the opportunity to grasp the heroic dream that they have reached for years!"

Everyone stared as Mr. Adachi offered out a hand to them. "Now, do you all want to reach that dream?"

Silence filled the whole class, small chitter-chatters are heard from here and there.

Meanwhile, Seiji knew exactly what he's going to do. With a goal set in front of his eyes, just several steps away from reach, he took the first move from the crowd.

But as he did this, he saw someone else already standing in front of the class. Small and tough, Jun Hamada dared to make a pose of threat. A small magnitude of the earthquake was suddenly felt by everyone in the stadium, a low rumble of the earth followed with.

With a deep breath, Jun Hamada barked out, "NO WAY IN HELL!"

Most of everyone else looked at him grimly. It's as if Jun just asked to dig himself a grave. Nobody, and literally nobody knew what this boy is thinking. Even Kaori herself is perplexed beyond belief.

"And why is that?" Mr. Adachi's reply came as quick as the wind.

Jun only snorted in disbelief. "Are you stupid?! I'm about to break apart your bluff, old man!" He said in a rude tone. "Proud of yourself, aren't you? Convincing us kids to follow some unfollowable pipe dream."

"As a matter of fact," Mr. Adachi said calmly, his hard face really brings out the predator in him, "I _am_ proud to know that you're willing to go this far to convince your friends to follow the path that you chose yourself and know is the right one."

After a few seconds, when Jun finally came to realizing who Mr. Adachi is referring to, he immediately shot a murderous glare at Seiji. A scowl of pure hatred bared his fangs.

Mr. Adachi then turned to face Jun. "Will you still be willing to change your mind, Jun?"

"You're still managing to pull the same trick, huh?" Jun snarled, getting into a running stance. His arm vibrated in an ominous way, a powerful punch was something that he's holding back in. "How about you shut your goddamn face and FIGHT ME?!"

"As you wish, then." Mr. Adachi, again, replied calmly. He unbuttoned his business attire and threw the black suit away right before the wind took it afar, now, Mr. Adachi's well-built form was shown completely from his broad shoulders to his sturdy legs. Although he was still wearing a simple plain shirt, after he rolled up both his sleeves the battle commences.

A suspenseful five seconds before Jun took a quick sprint towards Mr. Adachi, screaming furiously in the process. His arm held back, ready to punch.

Five steps closer. Each step that Jun took released a tremor.

Four steps apart. Mr. Adachi readied himself for a stance.

Three steps left. Jun wasn't showing signs of stopping

Two steps to decide it all. Everyone else suddenly felt a fatal nervousness attacking their very heart.

One steps left… both sides ready to do their attack… **KA-POW!** And a powerful shockwave echoed through the entire stadium. A violent shake of the earth answered the question of 'how far can Jun push his Quirk?'

Seiji then felt his center of balance going whack, with a twist of his hips he regained somewhat of the balance he had left.

"Should we do something?!" Shouted the voice of Oboro, he gritted his teeth and tries to regain his balance as well. "I know you have a plan, Tsukinose!"

Kaori shot him a look, but it was a look of worry. "We can't interfere… if we have to… we'll just run!"

"So that's it then…" Seiji mumbled fearfully. "We're just gonna go back to how we were…?"

"What else can we do, then, smartass?!" Tarasu barked angrily from his side, he then proceeded to look forward in spite. "Really… never have I thought that I got convinced by your sweet talk…"

" _There must be something I can do!"_ Seiji thought out bitterly.

Back in the fight, it seemed like the battle from before had repeated itself: Jun relentlessly giving powerful punches to attack any opening with all his might, while Mr. Adachi responded by continuing to parry or block any of Jun's attack with apathy (showed by how Mr. Adachi never seemed to be changing arms for parrying at a certain interval).

When it was time for Mr. Adachi to punch back with what he got from Jun's shockwaves, Jun's height got him an advantage at dodging the direct attack on his face. And with that, Jun aimed a kick at the side of Mr. Adachi's opened torso.

But it too was deemed useless as an invisible barrier absorbed all of Jun's force.

With a grab of Jun's stray leg, Adachi threw him spinning into the air as high as he could. Jun could only look in shock as he was only a mere two feet away from hitting the ground.

Jun then delivered a straight knee towards the ground, with that he shouted: "CRATER KICK!"

It was as if a meteorite hits a spot on the concrete square, and left a gaping hole where all the debris that came from the knee attack were crushed downwards by force. This caused a series of large clouds of dust to be fired everywhere, deeming Adachi's field of vision to be blinded.

Adachi, however, saw the incoming attack by Jun as he sprinted out of the concrete dust to deliver another jab. And he responded with a clap of both hands right in front of Jun's face.

A sharp clap that caused all the bottled up force inside Adachi's body to be released at once. Jun was thrown backward without even having enough time to comprehend what was going on.

Jun's body was thrown away from Adachi, his poor body hitting every hard surface on the concrete floor. Adachi wasn't finished yet, because he leaped towards him, grabbed ahold of his locks, and smashed his head towards the floor.

With a groan, Jun went limp on the floor for a couple of seconds. His head was spinning violently, something about Adachi's last attack had broken him.

Before Jun could even lift himself off of the ground, Adachi took hold of his left arm and puts him in a lock.

"GAH!" Jun shouted out in agony, having his arm in a tight lock like this while laying down was certainly painful. "Let me go you bastard!"

"I wished not for you to do this, Jun…" Mr. Adachi said calmly.

"Don't _Jun_ me!" Jun snapped angrily, gritting his teeth in pain. "You fucking lied to me!"

Mr. Adachi took no note of that, but he stood up, still holding Jun's hand while he's laying down, and turned to the rest of the class.

"SO YOU'RE ONLY GOING TO STAND THERE AND WATCH SOMEONE ELSE GET HURT?!" Mr. Adachi bashed at them furiously, taking note of their thunder-stricken silence. "AND HERE I THOUGHT YOU'RE ALL CUT OUT TO BE HEROES!"

"Fuck… you… for all that _bullshit_!" Jun sputtered out, unable to get off the ground while his hand was still held by Adachi.

Adachi only looked at him pitifully. "I didn't lie to you, Jun—"

"Shut up!"

"You wouldn't even listen, to begin with—"

"SHUT UP!"

"If only you'd take my word of advice…"

"I SAID SHUT UP—!"

Like a flash of lighting flash of lighting, something fast crashed into Mr. Adachi. Jun saw it out of the corner of his eye, the speed of that thing was like a bullet leaving dust everywhere.

And before he knew it, Jun was released from Adachi's hold.

From the dust, after it scattered away, Jun saw a figure standing over him in an ominous way. A figure of Seiji Orimura, with his back, turned to Jun.

"… What?" Jun muttered out in confusion.

Meanwhile, back at Adachi, things weren't going so well with him and his entirely new opponent who had just come at him unexpectedly… and very quickly.

Date Takehiro bellowed out war cries as he kept ramming into Mr. Adachi who was trying to shield himself with his barrier with all of his might.

The bulky boy gritted his teeth in response to trying to give all of his power to this one attack.

This one attack… that he didn't know why he did it in the first place…

.

.

.

 _Sitting on the park bench, shielded by the sun, Date looked over towards his classmates. All of them gathering around playing, laughing, gossiping, socializing… all the things that Date seemed to be missing._

 _With a quick glance at his right, he saw another group of students: pranksters._

 _Annoying people. Five children grinning maliciously at the response of him noticing them._

 _Date stood up from his seat just before someone started to throw something from the bushes, pebbles to be precise. Another small pebble hit his neck, making him growl malevolently._

 _He didn't want to stand out, he never did. Sometimes he wished, that he had never shouted, "BUGGER OFF, CUNTS!"_

" _WAAH! THE VILLAIN IS GOING TO KILL US!" Shouted one of the boys from the bushes, a split second smile was seen from them before they fled the scene._

 _Date looked around him in panic. The kids who heard, the kids who saw, they all thought of him more and more of a villain than he is now._

 _And the worst part is… Date didn't even do anything to deserve this…_

 _Or so he believed…_

 _When break time ended and everyone else rushed back to their own classes, Date stayed behind and decided to ponder upon his life. His shitty life that is._

 _Why did he even went back to school? Who was he kidding? He never should've trusted society in the first place. And worst of all, he couldn't be angry about it._

 _With a lot on his mind, Date disappeared from the school fields and a few minutes later, was opening a pack of cigarettes on his hand._

 _Squatting down in front of a tree, Date hopelessly stared at the contents of the cigarette pack. Shaking his beefy hand a little bit, he remembered that this was used to be his father's._

 _Did he even care if he stole some of his old man's cigarettes? Date honestly couldn't answer that. With a heavy heart, he slouched and rested the top part of his back towards the tree bark behind him; many of its big roots bulged uncomfortably under Date's rear._

" _Do I hate him?"_

 _Silence, and the sound of the breeze passing through the trees._

" _I never loved him." Date spoke to himself confidently and without a doubt, his body slowly sliding down the tree bark. "Am I an idiot?"_

 _His father was no longer of any importance to Date, hell, he even wished for a better dad that one time. He remembered when he begrudgingly had a feud with his father for the shitty life they had been living through. His father never gave his all, Date realized. Everything, even Date, was just secondary compared to the villainous life that his father had started from._

 _It was his fault, Date thought bitterly; crushing the pack of cigarettes in his hand. He never would've been living this kind of life if it wasn't for his ex-criminal father, Date could've done something about it._

 _In front of him was a metal fence, and pass that fence was a street with barely any cars running through it. Date picked this spot to rest because it was the closest he can be to a free world with no one holding him back. No one to pull him down into the depths of guilt and regret of what-could-have-been._

 _Could he make a break for it? Run and disappear from the face of the earth? He had nothing to lose, none. If he were to run away at this very moment, was he ready for the new world that he chose? What will he do next? Where will he go?_

 _Anxiety seeped into his heart, making it weigh more and more to the point where, at the darkest corner of his mind, he wished for a painless goodbye._

 _His life was a mess, the world is against him, and he couldn't be angry about it. He deserved it._

 _A laughter then managed to dig into his ear, a childish laugh that made his head snapped up in curiosity._

 _Under the afternoon sun, several young children were playing their bright rainbow colored ball on the sidewalk. Their carefree attitudes filled the silent streets as Date could tell that they were playing hooky._

 _Date grumbled and began to stand up, he didn't want to be seen as a middle school student that was skipping classes. He had enough of those already._

" _Ah! Get the ball Itami!" Said a childish voice from the other side of the fence._

 _Looking back, Date nonchalantly watched as a small boy carelessly stepped into the empty streets outside with his friends watching from the sidewalk. As he got closer to the ball, the boy then bends down to pick it up._

 _Like a sudden unforeseen event, Date saw a gleaming light from afar. And it was speeding towards the boy without any signs of stopping._

 _The car was going too fast, and none of the children had seen it yet._

 _A split second moment where the young boy managed to pick up the ball only to find himself staring back at his own reflection on a black windshield, his adolescent smile disappeared from his face._

 _The last thing Date remembered was his heart stopping in panic, and the next thing he knew his shoes was on fire._

 _He saw himself staring at a bunch of kids at close quarters, fear and shock filled all of their faces._

 _In Date's arms, he felt something heavy tugging at his clothes as if gripping for his very soul. Looking down, Date was eye to eye to the child that he just pulled back from the embrace of death, and he was enveloping the boy in a tight hug as if scared that he'll get hurt again._

 _After releasing the kid gently, knowing how very thunder-stricken and afraid that he is to the point that he couldn't stand up on his own two feet, Date looked back towards the path that of destruction that he created; black burnt marks on the asphalt street leading back towards the large gap within the middle school's fence._

 _Man, he had a lot to explain to the school today._

 _Date glanced from the car that released its brakes suddenly as the driver wondered what the hell just went in front of him that fast before he glanced back towards the kids that were looking at him with wide eyes._

" _You saved me…" Said one of the kids._

" _Are you a hero?" The other asked._

" _You shouldn't be out of school." Date suddenly said with a low growl._

 _These children exchanged glances at each other. "Y-yes…" Said the boy that he just saved. "T-thank you, big brother."_

 _Date clicked his tongue before looking away from the kids with his arms crossed over his shoulder. When the kids disappeared from the scene, Date had to ponder to himself again._

" _Hero, huh?"_

 _._

 _._

 _._

"GET READY TO DIE OLD MAN!" Date shouted out in a beast-like roar, gaining more and more inhumane velocity on the way. His Quirk really lives up to the name 'Vector Charge'.

Something was burning inside of Date, and that was the will to fight and to win. The thrill hatefulness, the adrenaline rush of homicidal tendencies. Date must not falter even once to defeat Adachi.

For he knew the costs of losing. And he did not _dare_ to lose.

Mr. Adachi gritted his teeth stressfully, his x-shaped arm shield wasn't going to hold long much longer, much like the outsole of his shoes. So he did what he had to do.

With a release of vectors on his back, Adachi successfully managed to slow Date down to a speed that he can use as an opening.

Adachi pulled his fist back and punched Date straight on the chin with his leftover force. The bulky boy stood no chance against the impending strike, the attack blew him off of the concrete square and off course.

Adachi managed to regain his balance, he wasn't expecting Date to be helping Jun so it made him more than exhausted as a result. Adachi wiped a trail of sweat off of his chin, but he hadn't rested yet because he knew there would be more.

And the second he almost let his guard down, the wolf girl Mori ambushed him from behind.

"HYAAH!" She roared as a spinning kick was delivered straight to Mr. Adachi's face.

Adachi stumbled back, but he blocked off the kick nonetheless. Of course, he had to give it to her for surprising him like that.

" _Well… isn't this an interesting turn of events."_ Adachi thought to himself, smiling. _"If this is what you wish, then, humor me."_

Mori's eyes burned with passion. The sense of duty embraced her as a catalyst to a chemical; she felt needed.

All of her pride, all of her reasons to fight, was filled in every kick and punch that she gave to Mr. Adachi.

Mori's wolf-like ears retracted upwards, sensing an impending attack from Adachi. When Mori hits Mr. Adachi on the opening on his chest (which deemed to be unsuccessful due to his barrier Quirk), the man started to her with a side jab. But before he could do it, Mori protracted her claws and reached for Adachi's face while still holding her fist on top of Adachi's torso.

It's time to test her theory.

Mori's eyes widened in surprise when she saw her three thin claw marks on the side of Mr. Adachi's face.

She did it.

She found his weakness.

.

.

.

" _Please, my sweet pup…" Said the raspy voice of a woman on the other side of the telephone booth. "Tell me what's wrong…"_

 _Mori said nothing, she hung her head in full shame while still avoiding eye contact with her mother. The bruises on her cheek were still visible even after a few hours._

" _I… got into a fight… they called you a bad person…" The teenage wolf girl's ears fell down sadly, and then with a heavy heart, Mori spoke. "I'm sorry…" She said with a bit of a sniff._

 _Her mother furrowed her eyebrows at her, she couldn't stand to watch her daughter this way. Time and time again she lectured her, but alas, she wouldn't listen._

" _You're worrying too much about me—"_

" _I don't care!" Mori suddenly snapped. "I… I'll find a way to get you out… I-I've already collected enough money to p-pay for school… a-and…"_

 _Stubborn… just like her mother. But something about what she said seemed awfully out of place, it's like she was implying that she… had… just…_

" _How?" Her mother said in a darkened tone. "Where did you get all those money?"_

 _Mori let out a dry laugh before sniffing her nose. "I… made a few contacts… and the deal is I get them what they want and they pay me with m-money…"_

 _The older woman looked down as if she had just heard something she didn't expect to hear from someone as innocent and as good-willed as her own daughter._

" _You're a good person, Mori. This habit of yours, it must stop." Said her mother, she had instinctively tried to grab her daughter's hand and squeezed it under her own, but then she realized the barrier separating them._

" _I… I don't care…" Mori's voice fell. "If I didn't do anything… they won't stop."_

" _But that doesn't mean that you have to go on like this!" Her mother said sternly, she looked down and sighed._

" _B-but this is the only way I can get money!" Mori fought back, her voice rising. "N-nobody wanted to take me in since… since I'm the daughter of—"_

" _MORI!" Her mother suddenly yelled out, her brows furrowing in irritation and disappointment. "You… you have to stop… Please…"_

 _Mori's face wasn't visible by then, she began holding her own pitiful cries with the palm of both her hands. Silence overwhelmed them both, and there was no doubt that the atmosphere had crashed down completely…_

 _That was when her mother suddenly spoke up. "Remember these words once you've graduated out of middle school…"_

 _Mori perked up, tears streaming down her face._

" _No matter where I am, no matter what happens to me, I'll always be beside you… Please, Mori, for the love of all things good, DON'T be like me when I was younger…" Her mother smiled softly, her voice trailed away little by little. "I used to act on impulse as well, I used to barricade myself inside of my arrogance after I convinced myself that falling into criminality was the only way. I don't want you to be like me; I want you to be BETTER! Find a good school where you can learn properly and train yourself for your dreams, where you can make a lot of friends… … be a hero!"_

 _Mori perked up, she slowly puts up her hand right in front of her mother's hand on the other side. "I… I just want you to be free…"_

" _I'll be fine, Mori…" Her mother reassured her. "It's you who you should be worrying about."_

" _But… everyone shunned me… nobody wants to be friends with me…" Mori muttered out._

" _That's okay sweetheart, you don't have to listen to what they say … find someone pure with a heart just as good; but if you didn't, BE that someone even when people think you're not …" Her mother replied, pressing her forehead against the window. "Always follow your heart and believe what you think is true; because of your father and me, we created the purest being we can ever hope for…"_

 _With that, Mori cried in silence._

 _._

 _._

 _._

Mori dodged back and forward when Mr. Adachi struck blows after blows of powerful attacks. But thanks to Mori's nimble feet and sharp instincts, the man didn't stand a chance against her 'Wolf Mode' Quirk in a one on one battle.

Luckily, thanks to her quick thinking, she found just the right strategies to defeat the man. Mori backed away from an exhausted Adachi to come up with a plan.

Although, this might need to take a while to come up with alone.

"ORIMURA!" Mori shouted, backing away from the fight to rest.

Seiji looked over his shoulder and caught a glimpse of her facing on Adachi alone. "Are you okay?!" He shouted back at her, worried.

"Yeah! I'm—WOAH!" Mori's words were cut off when Mr. Adachi sped at her with incredible speed; that speed was as equal as the one Date used to propel himself into a sprint.

Mori ducked just in time before Mr. Adachi's heel hits her straight on the forehead. With his Quirk, his speed and might were a hundred times stronger than average.

Mori back-flipped away from Mr. Adachi's death kicks. Deep down inside her heart, she was panicking. She couldn't dodge any more of his brutal attacks, Mori was done for.

Mr. Adachi stopped abruptly, he seemed to be losing his balance.

Mori stopped as she bent down on all four limbs, ready to strike at Adachi for a counter attack. But looking at it right now, Mr. Adachi seemed… confused?

Something on his pupils was glowing a dim haze of purple, and his perplexed face finished it off.

Mori was also puzzled beyond belief but relieved at the same time too. When she looked around the arena, she saw someone out of the corner of her eye.

"Suki!" Mori gasped in shock, her eyes stared at the girl with disbelief.

Suki Takara gritted her teeth in seriousness as she tried with all her might to raise her Quirk towards the maximum limit. Her eyes glowed a violent shade of purple, and her face contorted into fury.

" _Why… the hell… am I doing this?!"_ Suki asked herself angrily, both hands pointing out towards Mr. Adachi to focus her hallucinations Quirk 'Mirage'.

Meanwhile, Mr. Adachi seemed to be getting in a bit of a trouble if he must say so himself. Everywhere he looked was melting away, the world he was in was painted in violent purple and black, every voice he heard was distorted into abnormal screeching noises, and lastly, he saw no signs of escaping this illusion.

Heh. If it was just an illusion, then maybe he could just…

 **THOOOOM!** Goes the shockwave that Mr. Adachi saved from the fight with Jun earlier.

The blast of the earth-shaking force brought everyone to go out of balance, and of course, Suki was one of them.

With the giant tremor that Adachi made, Suki lost her focus, and thus, her Quirk automatically canceled itself.

" _Dammit!"_ Suki cursed, rubbing the bridge of her nose in stress. _"What if my Quirk backfires, huh?! What the hell do I do next?!"_

Mr. Adachi stopped moving and stood straight, he rubbed his eyes a couple of times before looking at the direction of Suki. The girl's blood suddenly ran cold, and when Mr. Adachi approached her, everything else suddenly didn't matter except for survival.

Suki took several fearful steps back, then, she stopped when she saw Mori looking straight into her eyes; as if asking what Suki was planning to do now.

In short, Suki has no idea. _"What should I do? WHAT SHOULD I DO? Why the hell am I doing this?!"_ She screamed inside of her head.

But looking forward, to the rest of the classmates who had been with her for hours, she saw something in their eyes that made her question the universe: "Are they really counting on me? Help me!"

Suki's eyes traveled back towards Mr. Adachi, and with a sudden begrudging motivation, she activated her Quirk once more.

" _Fine then, you ungrateful bastards… I'll do this myself…"_

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" _Suki."_

 _Suki's eyes snapped open at the mention of her name, her tiny hands reached over towards the handle of the door. Her legs started to tremble and she just wanted to cower in fear; she knew picking on her parents wasn't a good idea…_

 _The little girl slowly stepped into her father's study, she then saw what she wanted to see from the start: why was her mother on the floor with a bruise?_

 _Her father only stood there in front of the fireplace ominously, while the woman who kneeled on the floor with a bruise said nothing; she almost looked inhumane, like a doll being played around._

" _Mama?" Suki squeaked out fearfully._

" _Look at her, Suki." Her father suddenly snapped. "This is what happens if you don't listen to me."_

 _Suki's lower lip trembled. Her father then kneeled in front of her, his gaunt face illuminated by the fire. "Tell me, Suki. You wouldn't betray me, right? Even if I specifically told you to stay in your room?"_

 _The little girl didn't know what to say, she looked at her father, then back at her mother. "Ma…ma?" She asked for help._

" _Do you know who you are?" Her father said in a cold tone, squatting before her with his face only inches close. A moment passed until her father said: "Did you hear me asking? Answer…"_

 _Suki's bottom lip trembled. "I… I d-don't kn—"_

 _ **SLAP!**_

 _Suki's cry of pain got lodged in her throat, she forced herself to not squeal; her father hated it. As her feet gave up, Suki fell down on her dress, sobbing uncontrollably._

" _Yes, you do, Suki." Her father said as he walked towards her, he then yanked her by the arm and pulled her up until her ear was a level with his mouth. "Who are you?"_

" _A… v-villain!" Suki said in a choked tone._

" _And what happened back then at the bank?"_

 _Suki only cried, but silently as her voice was caught between her chokes._

 _Luckily, her father finished for her. "You hesitated, didn't you? You messed up and didn't use your Quirk in time, right?"_

 _Suki said nothing._

" _Answer me!"_

" _Y-YES!"_

 _Then, her father yanked at her hand and pulled her outside of the study. Ignoring the little girl's cries, her father then proceeded to take Suki towards her own bedroom while she herself is crying loudly in fear._

" _All those damn pro heroes, all those damn policemen, each and every one of them are already trying to get a good look at my arse. And you just had to make my day worse, didn't you? You useless child. " Her father said darkly, holding up Suki painfully by her arm. "This is what happens if you don't listen to me, Suki…"_

 _Her cries disappeared behind her bedroom door._

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Suki's eyes then began to glow purple. With both, her palms pointed forward acting as a conductor of her Quirk.

Even though Suki's Quirk was obviously working on the man running towards her, Mr. Adachi's movements didn't seem to slow down any little.

If anything, Mr. Adachi seemed to be pushing forward.

Suki's eyes widened in fear, her heartbeat hammered against her ribcage as her feet were rooted on the concrete. She was absolutely frozen.

Mr. Adachi's feet stomped at the ground, leaving soles like footprints embedded on the concrete ground.

With a single leap, Adachi dived head first towards the purple-eyed girl. Suki's heart jumped out in shock, and her hallucinations canceled quickly.

But before Adachi could even get close towards Suki, a giant wall of silver grew out of the ground like liquid. As Suki's Quirk wasn't working on Adachi anymore, the man braked himself before running into what seemed to be solid silver water.

Adachi's mouth opened up in surprise, but when he noticed that the wall was steaming off some kind of grey smoke Adachi immediately took several steps back in wary.

" _So this is your potential, huh, Yato?"_ Mr. Adachi thought in awe.

On the other side of the mercury wall was Suki, sitting on her rear on the ground as she was startled and almost thought that she was going to die.

Calming down after noticing the giant liquid wall of silver, she saw a figure standing before her with his back turned.

It was the boy from before, the one and only Yato Shimura. His arms were spread to both sides, controlling the giant mercury wall like it was nothing. Greyish steam, probably toxic, oozes out from his body, but something was telling Suki that Yato was handling everything just fine.

The boy then glanced over his shoulder, when he met Suki's eyes he gave a small smile as if saying that "I told you so."

With a quick fall of both arms, the giant wall that stood in between them and their opponent was quickly reduced to steam. Suki could not move, she was awestruck. But when a whizzing sound was heard from her right, she immediately backed away instinctively.

A dim color of blue was zooming around the grey steamed arena, and when it got closer to Suki, she could see the person behind it clearly.

"Are you in need of support?" Said the voice of Mika Tetsuya in an icy tone.

Suki was speechless, but Yato spoke to her. "Just get her out of here first, I'll deal with this."

Looking forward, they all could see the strong figure of Mr. Adachi as the steam scattered away.

Worried, Mika reverted back towards Suki. "I will proceed to escort you out of here."

"What?!" Suki suddenly said in incredulity. "No! I-I mean… I can still fight!"

"Shut it, girly." Said a brand new voice in the group. Light footsteps from a hunchbacked teen approached them. "It's my turn now…"

Tarasu Kobayashi walked past both Mika and Suki, he stretched his back and cracked his knuckles in the process. With a predatory grin on his face, he was ready to face Mr. Adachi side by side with Yato.

"Take these, will you?" Tarasu suddenly said. He then unknowingly took off his jacket and bared his upper body in all its glory. With well-built biceps, glistening six packs, and pale skin, Tarasu stood high and mighty beside Yato.

Suki couldn't help it, a shade of pink filled her cheeks. After all, she didn't expect this kind of turns of events.

The two boys stood strong in the face of a lion. Each with their own reasons to fight.

Suki was then lifted unknowingly by Mika, and the suddenly presented strength of the robotic girl was jaw-dropping.

Suki's face flushed completely. "W-wait! I can just-AAAAH!"

With just her two arms, she was able to carry Suki all by herself while the tiny boosters on both her feet propelled them safely out of the battlefield.

" _Yato… Tarasu… good luck!"_ Mika thought with her hopes rising.

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 _The sound of metal wheels running across the silent hallways of juvenile prison. White walls and greyish marble floors surrounded the three individuals. Cladded in protective suits, two security guards were escorting an unusual girl with robotic built._

 _They were heavily defended as if the young child strapped in front of them could blast them away at any time. But the girl made no moves, she even seemed dead, or in her case, inactive._

" _Illegal weapons trading, huh?" Said a guard behind Mika, who was being escorted with a wheelchair._

" _Not only that," Said his friend, "girl's got a lot of tricks up her sleeve. Heard she robbed an entire bank by hacking it to pieces."_

" _Holy shit, for real?" Said the first guard in awe. Scratching his stubble as a result of his nervousness. "And bank vaults at Shibuya?"_

 _His friend made a high whistle with his mouth in wonder. "Blew it to pieces. High pressured gamma blast, they said. Enough to melt a meter worth of steel."_

 _Mika did not make a single move, she stayed silent and completely inert as the two guards kept pushing her wheelchair to the deeper parts of the building. Her double colored pupils seemed to be focusing in and out by itself as she passed under the bright lights._

" _Kid's a weapon I tell ya'." The second guard said with a bit of a hush. "Some sketchy people tried to upgrade up her Quirk or something by adding her body more and more of those 'weapons'."_

" _The Hornet was one of those people, was she?" The first guard asked._

 _But his friend only shook his head. "Nah. Police said that the Hornet stole her from those scientists a few years ago, and therefore was how the Hornet became one of the most successful criminals in today's Japan."_

" _That's fucked up, huh." The first one said in agreement. "Was the girl in on each heist?"_

" _Yep. Her 'mother' confessed to it." The second guard scratched his head, the both of them then turned a corner and ended in a massive room with a large panel of glass separating them from the cell. "Ever since the Hornet got into a beef with All Might and lost, police had been finding lots 'n lotsa stuff after her capture. Heard they found the girl being locked at the Hornet's lair, connected to dozens of monitors and other weird technologies."_

 _As they unlocked the leather belts that held Mika in place, one of the guards unlocked a metal framed glass door by a simple key._

" _Sad…" The first one mumbled out, gently lifting Mika off of her wheelchair by her arms. "I don't like seeing a girl this young to be put into detention, never did. She probably doesn't know what she's doing, poor girl being used by that bitch of a mother. Thank god the presses were held back in this case, or else we've—"_

" _You're wrong…" Mika's voice was suddenly heard._

 _Confused, the two guards looked at the little girl in front of them and glanced at each other._

 _Turning around, Mika's face contorted into one's fury. "Mother did NOT use me!"_

 _The guards were almost sympathetic. "Look, kid. You don't know what you're talking about."_

" _She did not 'steal' me! She saved me from those men!" Mika's rage was burning each second. As she clenched both her flesh and metal fists, both the pupils on her heterochromatic eyes glowed violently. "I urge you to take that back!"_

" _Sorry kid." The second guard said in a low voice. And with a hard slam of Mika's cell door, he locked it shut. "When you grow up, you'll realize it soon enough."_

 _The two of them left without glancing back at the girl, but Mika swore she could've heard a low mumble of their conversations as they walked away. Mika felt herself to be filled with anguish and hatred at her very core, but she had no reason to be enraged when her digital eye noticed that each wall of this cell including the transparent glass was too thick to be blasted away with her mini cannon._

 _She did the logical thing to do._

 _She waited. And hoped for the soothing touch of a mother's embrace._

 _._

With Mika and Suki gone, both Tarasu and Yato are left on their own to face Mr. Adachi.

The man before them stood straight before cleaning his dust-ridden shirt with his hands. "Well now, boys. Seems like we've had enough fun for today, have we?" He said with a smile.

Tarasu scoffed lightly. "We've gone this far, haven't we?"

"Indeed…" Yato said in agreement, picking up a fighting stance. "If anything, Mr. Adachi. I would like to prove my worth to you myself."

Mr. Adachi's face brightened up exponentially. "I'm glad I get to see this side of you, Yato."

Yato's face turned into a light expression of surprise, but was caught off guard when Tarasu decided to shout out, "Whatever! Let's just get to the fight and be done with this, old man!"

Adachi laughed lightly on the response, and with a strong grip on each of his hips, he stared back at the two boys in front of him. "And you'll have no doubts about it? Not even going to have any of your other friends to help you out?"

There was a pause, but then Yato gave the most heinous smirk. "Who said nobody's helping us out?"

Mr. Adachi furrowed his brows when he looked around he only saw the horizon was filled with white smoke. Smoke was everywhere. It filled the whole circumference of the stadium like the insides of a tornado.

The smoke closed in on the three individuals and each time a second passed the smoke seemed to be getting thicker and thicker.

Adachi immediately knew whose Quirk this was, but when he saw silhouettes coming out of the smokes, he may have to be more than careful with his next move.

A girl came out of the smoke sported in ripped clothing; her dress was shortened to reveal her thighs, her sleeves had been ripped off and two protruding bones coming out from each of her shoulders. Miyu Yakushi glared at the man in white shirt, she reached for the two bones on her shoulder and pulled out two pale daggers of the same shape.

"I'll take left!" Miyu shouted towards both Yato and Tarasu.

"And I'll be supporting." Said a female voice in a stern tone. It was Kaori Tsukinose herself. "I'll only handle the defense for now, but I'll jump in if things get messy."

"You're useless, then." Said Tarasu in a bored tone. "Good grief, this is going to be one hell of a fight."

"We are not going to kill him, though," Yato remarked sharply.

Tarasu clicked his tongue. "Jeez, fine…"

And then, from behind the two boys, a looming figure came out of the smoke, while oozing of the white gasses himself. "I'll stay clear and watch, then?" Oboro said with a harrumphed, multiple ounces of smoke oozing out the palm of his hands. When he saw the sight of Tarasu bare-chested, he flinched slightly.

Kaori did not take any of what Tarasu said into consideration, in fact, Kaori had only one thing in mind in order for her to succeed in this fight.

If all goes according to plan, then there would be no doubt for a clear win.

"What about me?" Said a newer voice.

Kaori spun around only to have her face to face (about centimeters close) with a blue-haired maniac sporting an unhinged grin.

The girl was clearly, and completely, bewildered. It was as if someone had given her a weapon, only she doesn't know how to use it.

Kudou Satou only stood his ground before squatting down with a giddy smile on his face. "Well?"

Kaori began muttering out: "You… what can you do—"

"I'm glad you asked!" The boy cut her off with an enthusiastic tone. "Well, you see! With my Quirk, I can make the time of an area around me to slow down completely, with the only exception is me!"

That made Kaori grow a lightbulb on top of her head. "You'll play defense, how about that?"

Kudou made a small scowl. "Blergh! Booring!"

"Alright then…" Kaori said with her eyes narrowed. "How about you be the one who catches people if they go too far out of bounds?"

"Now we're talking!" Kudou said with a predatory grin. And like that, he disappeared without a trace.

Without any other intrusions, Kaori readies herself up. "Get ready!" She shouted to her teammates, she kneeled down and braced herself for a sprint.

The others followed suit, taking a form of their own stances. Miyu with her bone daggers, Yato with mercury ooze orbiting around his body, Tarasu's diamonds taking shape on both his arms and upper body, Oboro puffing out smoke from the edge of his lips, and lastly, Adachi himself standing unflinchingly in the midst of the oncoming storm.

Adachi's smile faded, something else more sinister took in. "Surprise me, then." He challenged.

""LET'S GO!""

* * *

 **HooOOOLY SHIT this chapter was a handful.**

 **Originally, I had written to up to 20K words more. And then I realized that I'm going too overboard with this and decided to split the chapter into two parts (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows style).**

 **Sorry if this felt rushed somehow, I had zero time to proofread but Hofund is currently working on that right now (keep in mind that I'll probably edit this chapter later on). So I apologize for any writing mistakes.**

 **Again, sorry for late update. But, better late than never, amirite?**

 **Thank you for waiting... and please, review.**

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 **The brawl is getting fired up! Will the class succeed in playing their strategies? Or will they suffer at the hands of Mr. Adachi?**

 **And what was his weakness? What will be the trump card of our future heroes to pave their way into their dreams?**

 **More flashbacks! More epic battles! But will we finally see what pushes Seiji Orimura and company through their boundaries?**

 **Stay tuned to My Hero Academia: Delinquents Class!**

 **Worried about the next chapter? Do not fret! Next update will be quick and unexpected!**

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 **R &R**


	5. The Strength in Numbers (part 2)

**What?! Two chapters in less than a week?! But that's impossi-shut up...**

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...

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" _Well then, are you two ready?"_

" _Yes."_

 _"As ready as I can, mum."_

 _Kaori's mother let an amused smirk creep onto her face. She'd always wondered how her daughter would do against her husband. Seeing as the level of power he's going to use this time is the level he uses against the REAL small-time villains, this should be interesting to watch._

 _Of course, the most interesting time was the time when her father taught Kaori how to parkour. He'd said that she couldn't always rely on her Quirk-first, there has to be SOMETHING/SOMEONE for her to switch with, and she has to take into consideration that the targets of the switch would also switch momentum and direction. She had to learn how to free-run to be able to really move around freely. And her body was perfect for that-less bulky and more streamlined than her father's, courtesy of her mother's genes._

 _"Kaori-chan, put down your utility belt. And the pouches."_

 _"Aw! No fair!"_

 _Kaori made a pouty face (just like her father when he loses a debate, her mother mused), taking the belt off and pulling the throwing knife pouch out of her underwear (and she'd gone to such pains just to have her beloved knives with her!)._

 _"Well then, here we go."_

 _The air shifted. It was as if the very fabric of space and time had folded in on itself as three rectangular, human-sized rifts appeared out of nowhere._

 _Kaori's mother watched curiously. Apart from practiced footwork, incredible reflexes, years of experience and sharp senses, her husband's blows were as fast as they were powerful, and taking one direct hit meant Kaori was down for the count. Those moves are the same moves he used against regular villains, all of whom were, at the very least, more experienced than Kaori._

 _On the other hand, Kaori was lighter, faster and more flexible. She would switch places with a boulder or a rock, his punch would turn the poor, innocent rock into pebbles, and the pattern would start again._

 _Suddenly, Kaori switched places with a curiously-shaped rock behind her. Her father was wondering how on earth that happened (the stone was definitely not in her line of sight) when his daughter spoke. "I saw it clearly earlier. I remembered that it was there very clearly."_

 _She threw a pebble at him with all her strength, and he cautiously focused on the speeding rock-it was all too obvious what she was trying to do. When he pebble bounced harmlessly off giving him nothing more than a tiny sting, he looked up...and his little girl was no longer there. Just the clickety-clack of another pebble falling to the ground where she was standing earlier. Too late, her father realized that his crafty daughter had lobbed another pebble up high after he shifted his focus before Kaori landed on his back and put him in a headlock._

 _"Not bad, Kaori-chan." After said girl let go of him, he smiled. "However..."_

 _He jumped backward with all his might, smashing a solid stone pillar to debris that went flying all over the place. "...you are still young. Always remember that."_

 _Kaori stared in awe, her jaw dropped open. "Can I do that too someday? Like the elders?"_

 _Her father's face turned grim suddenly, a change in the atmosphere happened in the blink of an eye. By then, Kaori remembered how her own family, and the family from her mother's side, did not get along so well._

" _Sorry…" Kaori said with a sad tone, perhaps it would be better to not mention any of her non-out casted family members in front of her parents._

 _Seeing this, her mother was the one who gave a decent smile. "You are a very talented child, Kaori. Don't let someone like our elders to tell you otherwise, who knows, you may be able to surpass them one day."_

" _But… they wouldn't like that, right? I mean, aren't we outcasts?" Kaori muttered out._

 _Her mother stood up and walked up to her by taking a few long strides. "Just because we're outcasts to them doesn't mean that we're outcasts to society. Remember, people will see you as to how you treat others."_

 _Kaori stared at her open palms with a blank face. She remembered, holding on to her fear of being recaptured, by her own family too. But she grew curious, and she knew that the term 'curiosity killed the cat' would eventually happen to her._

 _But she will keep going and that was why she does this training routine; to keep herself reminded that she can be someone by her own choice._

 _A sudden breeze broke the four rejected bloodlines into reality once again._

 _Kaori's father then turned wary. "Alright, that's enough. People are coming to investigate the commotion. Time to go."_

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Knowing full well how very experienced Mr. Adachi was in combat compared to all five of them, Kaori decided that the best course of action would be to act decisively and work together as a team.

Her plan would not falter, and teamwork would be the only way to do it. First, she planned to be a distraction; a way for Mr. Adachi to focus on battling her for a while before she uses her Quirk.

The defense wasn't exactly a word that she'd use to describe her position, if anything, she would've been the trump card.

Remembering back to the important piece of information Mori had received earlier, Kaori made sure to use that in the current battle.

Looking at the other students ready to attack Mr. Adachi as well, Kaori deduced the possible strategy to buy her some time so she could deliver the actual attack.

With just her will to fight and none of the equipment to do so, Kaori sped up her acceleration.

Mr. Adachi noticed her speeding towards him at great speed, with a quick response, Adachi swung a powerful kick at her before he realized that Kaori wasn't planning on dodging.

A bright flash of light took place on where Kaori was earlier, not even a second apart, Miyu took her place.

As Miyu jumped into battle, both her daggers ready on each hand, Mr. Adachi leaped back with extra force applied to his jump. Dodging the sharp blade of the bone dagger, Mr. Adachi watched carefully at Miyu's every move; he clearly wasn't expecting this.

Every slash and every stab were deemed parried, blocked, or just dodge. Miyu gritted her teeth in frustration as it was currently the sixth time Adachi had elbowed her hands away from his body.

She brought back both her arms over her shoulder and she began to spin with her daggers each aiming for Adachi's stomach and neck. The double dagger attack was missed just by a thin line, but then Miyu decided to use her momentum to give Adachi a good upper kick with her back foot.

Adachi blocked her attack with a quick raise of his left elbow, if he missed his timing just a little bit, then his defenses would've failed.

Like a pair of professional fighters, both Adachi and Miyu impressively performed a deadly choreography amidst the smoke and sweat. With each of Miyu's blades merely centimeters away from slicing Mr. Adachi's crumpled white shirt, and Mr. Adachi's returning blows just barely grazing her into submission, it was a fight to remember indeed.

But Miyu made a mistake; with every slice of a dagger she gave, Mr. Adachi returned the favor by either punching or elbowing said dagger as a way of parrying her attacks. Each returning blows weakened the blade little by little, and considering Miyu's lack of backup equipment, this battle was her loss.

Adachi cocked back his arm and struck Miyu straight into her opened chest, instinctively, Miyu blocked his attack by shielding herself with both her blades.

A horrible move.

"GAH!" Miyu screeched out as Adachi's returning force pushed her farther back than expected. Both her pale bone daggers shattered in response to Adachi's strike.

Miyu felt herself being thrown in midair before falling into a pair of arms. As her weight was transferred to the arms of the person behind her, she saw the face of a looming creep grinning widely on top of her.

"Careful there, miss!" Kudou said with a maniacal giggle as she held on to the pale girl in an embrace. "You almost broke a few bones, but it's going _tibia_ okay!"

Miyu stared upwards like he had just grown a third head. "… What."

"What? Didn't you find it _humerus_?" Kudou smiled.

"… Just kill me now…"

An explosion was heard in the distance and it made the both of them revert their attention. It seemed like Adachi had begun fighting with Kaori and Tarasu again, but they seemed to be having a hard time landing even a single blow.

Kudou turned back towards Miyu. "I'll be going now, miss. Mr. Adachi will have a _skele-ton_ of problems with me, just you see!"

But before Miyu could even groan in distaste, the boy disappeared suddenly. The figure of the blue-haired boy was nowhere to be seen, and now Miyu had literally no one to hold her up.

The pale girl fell on her rear painfully; the boy was something else, and she'll give him that. And when she looked at the handle of what's left of her dagger and clenched it tightly inside of her fist.

Miyu's eyes widened as she realized something: her other dagger was gone!

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" _We don't know what we are going to do with him!" Said the voice of a woman in distress._

 _Inside the office of the renowned psychiatrist in Japan's renowned asylum for the mentally ill, Doctor Saki, two middle-aged adults were, frankly, on the edge of their own sanity._

 _The twist was, it wasn't them that needed treatment, but rather, it was their son._

 _Dr. Saki clicked her pen on top of her desk. She felt empathetic, though it wasn't her first time she had cases like this. She was the lead doctor in the asylum, after all. Nothing goes past her, and everything was under her control._

 _She had watched countless families went broken-hearted at the sight of their family members in the embrace of a straightjacket. However, after seeing the child herself, she had to say that she was never the one to lock a young boy that was no older than ten to be put in solitary confinement._

 _It was inhumane… but, it was the first solution these pair of politicians decided to give him._

" _If I may… I'd rather like to think that, other than detention, social interactions might help Kudou learn his place in the world." Dr. Saki told them, negotiating with all she could. "If we wish him to recover from his illness, I can suggest a few mental based activities that would put his intelligence to good use. Rather than just throw him away forev—"_

" _No, doctor!" Snapped the man sporting a flashy business suit. "We don't want any risks of his existence leaking into public ears! Do you understand what my complications are with this boy? Yes, he is my son, but he'll be the death of us!"_

 _Dr. Saki was at the loss for words. "But…"_

" _Doctor, I will pay good money for his treatment. I promise, with the position I'm in, I will." The man said frantically. "I just want him to be out of my sight for the time being, can you do that?"_

" _Sir!" Dr. Saki suddenly raised her voice. "You're thinking of abandoning your child! I… I can't do this legally without a proper restraining order from the court—"_

" _How dare you!" The wife suddenly said, her red puffy eyes glared towards the psychiatrist. "Don't think that you know everything just because you're a doctor! Yes, I know that he's my eldest son, the one that I wished would've been the epitome of the family's greatness… but no… he was a monster!"_

" _You understand, don't you, doctor?" The man suddenly said, his left hand stroked the back of his sobbing wife. "You saw the boy, you saw how hollow those scarlet eyes of his are; there are no turning him back from what he is now… The court can wait, until then, what you need to do is to take care of him."_

 _As much as Dr. Saki wanted to argue, the psychiatrist lowly nodded her head. "I-I understand… I'll… keep looking out for him from now on."_

 _The man and his wife came to the same conclusion as hers. The both of them stood up and thanked the doctor for his time. But before they left, the man added to the doctor: "Don't contact us for the time being, doctor. Kudou shouldn't be reminded of us until progress has proven to be showing, and you shouldn't interfere with matters that don't involve you…"_

 _Dr. Saki said nothing, her grip on her mechanical pen tightens._

 _Hours passed by and Dr. Saki began pulling at the hem of her lab coat that was hanging on top of a coat hanger in her office. It was an evening at this time of the day, and that meant that her regular shift, plus many other psychiatrists like her, has ended._

 _But she had no plans of going home tonight, she needed to check on something first._

 _If she remembered correctly, the detention facility for the individuals with dangerous tendencies is secured way deeper into the asylum. And that was where she was headed._

 _As she walked towards the specific hallway, she held on to a rather large rectangular play set; something that she had thought about for a while. Her footsteps under her high heels clicked-clacked rhythmically, and loudly._

 _As she reached a certain door, the breath that she never realized she was holding in her throat was released all at once in the form of a deep sigh._

" _Kudou?" She began, tapping on the metallic door._

" _Come in! Come in!" Said a joyful voice from inside the room._

 _Saki lodged her hand into her pockets and pulled out a little key. After unlocking the door she stepped into the room, and a blue-haired child greeted her with a wide smile. The boy sat cross-legged in the middle of the room with papers strewn about on the turquoise floor, other furniture were also scattered tidily near the walls._

 _The boy then stood up and skipped towards the psychiatrist._

" _Where did you go?" He said, tilting his head a bit._

" _I..." She stopped, remembering what his parents said. "I made an appointment with someone."_

" _Oh… well, don't go again, okay?" Kudou said, almost as if it was a command. Then, the boy grabbed her by the sleeve and pulled her closer towards the center of the room, "Come see what I painted!"_

 _Dr. Saki had no choice but to force out a smile. When Kudou introduced her to a messy painting of him and (what seemed to be) his parents, her heart clenched tightly. She had to spill the beans somehow._

" _I hope mama and papa will bring me home…" He said with a smile that wasn't reverting. "I know that they don't want me no more, but, I miss my brothers…"_

 _Saki was at a loss for words. This child wasn't a monster, yet no one could ever say that with a straight smile either. Perhaps… there was a way to fix him after all._

 _Dr. Saki finally deduced something, when she held Kudou by his shoulders she said: "Kudou… please know that I will try my best to help you! From now on you… I'll be your guardian, okay?"_

 _Kudou stared at her tear-struck face with blank eyes. Then, a smile splits his face in half. "Okay! But make sure you don't go anywhere, okay?"_

 _Saki let out a breath of relief, her grip slowly softening on his shoulders. "You… are you hungry? I have dinner, and…" She reached into her pocket and pulled out Kudou's detention room key, "you'll eat in my office from now on, okay?"_

" _Nah!" Kudou instantly said._

 _Saki was pretty sure he'd accept her offer. "Why is that?"_

" _I don't know…" Kudou shrugged. "I don't care where I eat, doctor. If I can eat with you, that's fine!"_

 _Saki's mouth was on a hinge, then, with the weight on her heart lifted off, she smiled. "Of course… honey…"_

 _She needed to remind herself to throw away Kudou's room key later._

.

.

.

Meanwhile, back at the brawl of four people including Kaori, Tarasu, Adachi, and now, Kudou. The missing pale bone dagger was gleaming in the sunlight as the handle was held by no other than the blue-haired boy.

Kudou wasted no time speeding towards the battle, and when he saw that Tarasu begun attack with his arms clad in shiny minerals, he realized that Adachi had already planned his next move.

Adachi was already planting a kick towards Tarasu's torso, to which he responded with a quick creation of a diamond shield. But the force of the kick was too great to handle.

It caused both the shield and Tarasu's armored arms to shatter in response to the great force, the boy was thrown back with hundreds of tiny sharp debris flinging into the direction of Kaori Tsukinose.

Tsukinose didn't have anything else to switch place with; if she were to change to Tarasu, she would only crash with him afterward. If she tries with one of the flying shards of diamonds, she'll only get thrown by the momentum of the force the diamonds are speeding with.

She had nowhere to go.

All seemed lost until a certain blue-haired boy got in front of her. With a flash of bluish light, a dome suddenly appeared before her.

Kaori watched as Tarasu, and most of the flying debris of diamonds, slowed down abruptly as they entered said transparent bluish dome.

Kudou was standing in the middle of it, yet he was able to move as normal. The boy looked over his shoulder and towards the girl outside his dome, weirdly, Kudou was clamping his nose and mouth shut as if he's breathing underwater.

Then, Kudou gave some thumbs up and a smile. Kaori merely blinked in response.

Inside the barrier, Kudou was already making his move: with just several movements, he pushed away from each oncoming debris with his fingers so none of them crashes into him nor Kaori. Classic speedster move.

As he readied to deactivate his slow-mo dome, his hands reached out to catch the Tarasu that's flying in the air at approximately one centimeter per second.

With a loud implode, the dome disappeared, and the flying debris all missed their target. Meanwhile, Tarasu crashed towards Kudou Satou with enough force to bring him down.

"I'm okay!" Kudou said with some thumbs up while Tarasu landed on top of him.

Adachi wasn't finished with him yet, though. The man stared at him from a distance as if waiting for Kaori's next chance to strike.

Unfortunately, someone else took that chance.

From the gaps of the smoke-filled horizon, sunlight crawled into the arena and reflected upon the magnificent crimson hair of a zoomorphic girl.

Mori was unpredictable with every attack seemed to be relying solely on her two strong legs. She leaped at Adachi before falling flat in front of his feet, just for her to proper herself upwards again with her legs cocked back and flung directly at the base of Adachi's neck.

Adachi blocked, parry, and jabbed at Mori's seemingly non-stopping attacks with his mouth clenched in stress. And from amidst the storm of smokes, another person jumped out of hiding before she raced at Adachi with a spear made out of bones ready to be used to impale her target painfully.

The man saw Miyu coming right out of the gaps of Mori's attack. To him, he was cornered completely if he didn't do anything.

Adachi waited for an opening that he can use, something that will throw Mori off of her patterns. As he saw a split-second moment of truth, Adachi didn't hesitate to strike a blow at Mori's stomach with all his might.

Mori was thrown back at Miyu who was just only three feet close to her battle with Adachi. Just when the two finally stopped spinning back the other way, Mori was as limp as a dead body.

Whereas Miyu wasn't done just yet, she might have been hurled at with an actual human, but she just didn't have the reason to go back down just yet. But then she saw Mori on the ground beside her, seemingly in great pain as her face winced with agony.

"M-Mori…" At first Miyu didn't have the slightest idea of what she should do. She was angry, she was irritated, and she didn't know what to do about it. "Mori!"

"I-I'm alright, Miyu!" Mori said before Miyu could come closer. The wolf girl shot her a pained smile before she averted her eyes somewhere else, namely the unstoppable fury called Adachi.

Tense silence filled the atmosphere between the two girls, then, Mori picked herself up with her fire still unextinguished in her eyes. Miyu however was looking at her with much worry in her eye. As impetuous as a hothead she was, she had a thought that crossed her mind that told her that maybe there was no way to defeat Mr. Adachi at all.

But she wasn't going to back down that easily.

"Do you have something else in mind?" Miyu asked the girl in front of her.

Mori merely stared at her in disbelief. "I-I don't know… We can't— "

"Maybe we can still do something." Miyu fought back, the edge of her lipless mouth tightening. "We just need to think of a way to hit him!"

Mori clenched her own fangs. "No… Adachi's not showing any openings, I-I…"

Before Miyu could ask what she was going to do, Mori was already standing up and staring at the heat of battle that wasn't that far away from them. The both of them saw Tarasu and Kudou, along with Date, attacking Adachi altogether.

"We can't give up now." Miyu said to her sternly, she was already set on what she wanted to do. "I'll buy you some time to think."

Mori had no time to call Miyu back to wait for her, but the determination that Miyu was showing was enough for the wolf girl to convince herself to try and come up with something. If the skeleton girl was ready to sacrifice herself for her, then Mori should do her part without hesitating.

.

.

.

 _Miyu felt herself starting to get colder and colder from the chilly winter air. There was no doubt that the clothes that she lacked was causing her to shiver uncontrollably. She had to get herself used to it, Miyu had convinced herself._

 _As the night was shining from the light of the winter's moon, the figure of the skeleton girl wearing only a school's winter uniform was silhouetted into the thin snow on the pavement underneath her. Every step she took with her shoe left a small footstep which trailed down to the city._

 _The silhouette that showed on the snow was decorated with the shape of a katana, an old samurai steel weapon that was rumored to be folded a hundred time until sharp enough to cut through bone with ease._

 _Miyu's sword wasn't made of steel, but she hoped that bone was just as same._

 _She heard noises even though winter break was supposed to be the time where almost everyone, regardless of family and title, were supposed to stay at home and enjoy their time off. Today was also the last day of school this year. The noisy chattering in the downtown district was an obvious clue for her to follow._

 _Walking downtown at night was certainly dangerous, even more so if you were a middle school girl wearing a skirt and thigh-high socks. Miyu would like to let herself to laugh at the thought of that, because danger hadn't seen her in action._

 _With only a sword in hand, Miyu followed the indistinct noises on the alleyway just in front of her. When she peeked her head to the sight, she almost couldn't see anything due to the darkness of the night, but she could well make out the light from a cigarette in front of a face that was wore by a young high school boy._

 _Miyu laid low, she could hear him talking, meaning that there was more of them. She listened closely to their conversations._

"— _money for the stash we gave them the other day, there was only 300 yen." Said one of them._

" _Heh, just tell them that it wasn't enough. Then we'll kick their asses if they won't give us their money." Said another._

 _Their snigger was cut off when the last voice snapped at them. "Keep your damn voices down! Can't let anyone see us tonight!"_

" _What's the matter, dude? It's not like this isn't the only time we've done this." Said the second voice. "Haha! Speak of the devil, man. They're here."_

 _Meanwhile, as Miyu was listening closely to their conversations, she heard footsteps coming nearby from inside the alleyway. There was more of them, she deduced. She lightly peeked into the alleyway, and from the light of the moon she saw three more entering the alleyway from the other side. And from their uniforms she could_

" _Ready to go?"_

" _Yeah, let's do this shit."_

 _It was Miyu's cue to come out of her hiding to observe her target's next movements. She saw from the small light of the cigarette's end that the three young men that gathered there were already walking away from their last spot. Miyu carefully followed them, she slowly walked into the alleyway and followed them without the risk of being noticed._

 _She followed them out of the alleyway, where she constantly hid behind the many available objects that was scattered on the downtown area. She could still hear them talking about collecting money again, which got her interests peaked._

 _Miyu was careful to not let herself get seen, she needed to make sure to get herself in a right position to fight. She couldn't risk herself to get seen by any unwanted bystanders, again. She clenched her fists tightly around the hilt of her bone sword, before she kicked off from her kneeling position to follow them even further._

 _She didn't expect to get herself near a school, one that was already closed too. It was a high school, standing two floors tall from the ground and was apparently abandoned._

 _These high school boys were laughing in a hushed tone as they jumped up the gates as it rattled from their weights. Miyu slowly managed to get closer towards the front gates before she saw the boys disappearing out of sight as they went around the building in a joyous hurry._

 _Miyu jumped up, careful to not make a sound, and landed onto the other side before she chased after them._

 _She walked around the school, the same route that these boys had gone to, and she found herself lost on the back of the school where she saw the large P.E. grounds with many fields already covered in thin snow. She carefully listened around, before she heard a noise coming from around the back door of the school._

 _She slowly approached the source of the noise, only to find herself staring at the boys currently vandalizing the sliding glass doors with red spray paint._

 _She didn't care if she was heard, she needed to make her requirements heard after all. And when the high school boys noticed her, they all shot up like they had just saw a ghost; even more so when they saw her weapon._

 _One of them smiled lecherously at the sight of the girl after a short silence. "You lost, little kid."_

" _No." Miyu answered him simply. But before they could ask her back, Miyu was already rushing at them with the hungry eyes of a lion. "I don't plan on getting lost either."_

" _You're on the wrong place, on the wrong time." Said one of them, baring his fangs at her. The five others immediately dropped their cans of spray paint and began facing her._

" _I don't have a lot of time left." Miyu said poisonously. "You took something from my brothers, I'm here to bring it back."_

 _They looked flustered, irritated, and borderline afraid. "Look, bitch, you really don't want to do this right n-AARGH!"_

 _It was too late, Miyu was already attacking. Every blow from her sword was merciless from the point she started her attacks. There were somethings that she never needed for them to know, like her name, or her age, she just needed them to know that they did this to themselves._

 _She was not going to hold back. Every piece of yen that she had beat out of these assholes were money that they had took from an innocent person. She was not wrong, she couldn't be in the wrong, her justice was absolute and there was no alternative to what she believed._

 _Two was down, then four, then five, until the sixth was stupid enough to believe that he could change what was about to come to him. The last one fell with a loud thwack to the head from the hilt of Miyu's sword._

 _The skeleton girl stared at the work before her feet, but she couldn't admire it too long as someone would've heard all the ruckus._

 _As she ran out and ran around the school like her life depended on it, she heard a noise just from outside the gates. Fear struck her face as she stopped at the front fields only to find blue and red shining at her face._

 _Her curled up fist went loose, and the sword fell out of her hand with a thud. It was over._

.

.

.

Mr. Adachi saw his reflection just in time as a crystallized kick was aiming for his head. Tarasu had just seemingly healed from Adachi's attack and was back again to face him once more.

Mr. Adachi dodged his kick just in time to take several wary steps back. Facing him was a curious but horrendous sight of a greasy-haired boy with hundreds of diamonds sprouting out of his body. As Tarasu grinned at the face of the teacher, several more diamonds took place around his cheeks.

No dialogues were going to be delivered by them. After a short few seconds of the most intense staring contest in history, Tarasu charged at Mr. Adachi with all his might.

This time, it was a different fight from earlier. When Miyu was compared to Tarasu, there was an obvious big difference between them. Obviously, Miyu had experience in fighting other people and she'd done it pretty well too, but Tarasu was a whole different story and a whole different level.

Tarasu's attacks were fast and unpredictable, much like Mr. Adachi himself. Each diamond-based strike that Tarasu gave wasn't just punching and or kicking, but also parrying Adachi's kicks and punches as well. Tarasu was also seen showing off some techniques that are entirely new to those who were watching, and each special attack that he aimed at several different places was blocked off and returned with Adachi's Quirk.

From just a very intense one on one battle between Tarasu and Adachi, where both sides of the challengers performed fighting skills incomparable to anything most of the people here had ever seen, several others who were waiting at their chance to strike begun sprinting towards the two in order to aid Tarasu in battle.

But Adachi was fast, incredibly fast to be precise; every kick and every punch that he gave was boosted by his Quirk, deeming that every attack that Tarasu gave was thrown back at him at the same force.

Tarasu was nowhere near worn out, however. After years of training, a fight like this wasn't going to back him down just yet. With his diamond embedded arms, Tarasu blocked and blocked and blocked Adachi's attacks again and again and again.

He had a plan from the start, he was buying time.

Another attack seemed to have come out of nowhere, and Adachi dodged just in time before a spear of bone hits him in the head.

Miyu pushed herself to try and hit another attack at Mr. Adachi's body. With her spear, Miyu aimed high and low, towards both leg joints and shoulders.

Mr. Adachi was in a tight spot, he parried Tarasu's diamond punches and dodged Miyu's spear at the same time. He was beyond professional at this point, though there were mere seconds where Miyu got a scratch at his plain white shirt.

Tarasu's Quirk 'Crystalize' unfortunately wasn't a long-distanced attack, therefore, he had to resort to being in short combat.

But from his experience, this was just like another day on the job.

The two teenagers took a step back, taking a short rest from attacking. With Miyu's pale spear gleaming under the sun and Tarasu's diamond cladded arms reflecting the sweat that was falling from the edge of his chin, the both of them exchanged glances.

"Let's go!" Tarasu chided before he once again leaped into battle.

"Right." Miyu propelled herself forward, spear in hand and ready to aid.

Adachi raised his arms up, ready to play defense against the both of them. An exasperated smile escaped his lips.

.

.

.

" _Tarasu, you… are by far the most amazing people I've ever met."_

 _The sound of a page flipping and a loud crunch filled the whole room, Tarasu munched on a small bluish gemstone on his hand as the other held a weekly magazine. He ignored his guest's flattery because he knew very well how falsely charismatic the other man can be._

 _With a quick blow of his cigarette, the other man chuckled lightly. "Really, couldn't you have a better sense of pride of work? I mean, these are Yakuza's we're talking about."_

 _With a heavy sighed that tremored the walls of his throat, Tarasu looked up towards a well-dressed man in front of him. With an outlandish appearance and a heavy tendency towards smoking, the other man stared at Tarasu as if he had just grown a third head._

 _Tarasu, somehow, looked as unpleased as the man was. With the electric ceiling fan humming in the background, the entire room's atmosphere changed in an instance._

" _Whatever. Yakuza or no Yakuza, it only matters whether or not I get paid." Tarasu said with a click of his tongue. "I ain't taking risks without coming out un-empty handed…"_

 _The other man said nothing, his eyes blinked momentarily as he let out a small smirk. "I see, then." A brief silence filled the room before Giran finally spoke up. "But I gotta ask, though. Have any other clients besides me to visit you."_

 _From the other sofa across the one the man was sitting, Tarasu furrowed his brows at the man's question. "What are you saying, Giran?"_

" _Are you unwilling to do this task because it is impossible… or… are you just too bummed out to do so?" Giran said with a slight grin. Taking another breath of smoke from his cigarette, Giran added, "I hope I'm wrong about this, but, aren't you just upset because your parents are in jail?"_

 _Tarasu said nothing, although a scowl took place on his lips. With a quick close of his magazine, Tarasu stared into nothingness._

 _Seeing his silence, Giran the broker glanced around the tobacco smelling apartment room with a mischievous smirk. "Because, why the hell would someone pack up an entire baggage? I mean, considering that the authorities would be on your tail soon, I don't know what else that would've pushed you out of this place."_

" _Shut the fuck up, Giran!" Tarasu suddenly snapped. "It's none of your business."_

" _Your business is dying, Kobayashi." Giran pointed out straightforwardly. "Plus, knowing how your… ahem… parents are doing, you're at the tight spot yourself."_

" _I answered your calls because I thought that you weren't such a sympathetic sorry-ass…" Tarasu growled with a mouth full of the chewed-out gemstone. "So what my company is dying? Hell, I can do better than what my old man ever did. I'm here to make deals, Giran. And NOT to talk about my feelings."_

" _Like I care about your feelings." Giran scoffed. "Your family is an important piece in the underworld business. Who else did you think was the one who took out an entire mob gang other than your parents?"_

" _So why ask in the first place?"_

" _Because I benefit from you." Giran laughed heartily. He ended his fit with a satisfactory sigh while taking another smoke at his cigarette end. "Well… I benefit from your PARENTS if I should I be specific. I mean, look at you. You aren't even hesitating after I offered an insane amount of money for a one-man infiltration on a Yakuza branch in Tokyo. Get real, kid. You should probably do something smarter than just taking requests if you wanted your business to stay."_

 _Tarasu pursed his lips and stared at his guest with contempt. He let his arm limped and his magazine falling out of his hand, from his lying position on his sofa he stood up and stretched his back. Walking up towards the sunlit window, Tarasu blew a stray hair out of his face; he should probably cut it shorter than it is now unless he wanted to make himself to look like a washed-up drunk._

 _Thinking back to his old days, Tarasu realized that he had never even gotten further than just assassination attempts or mid-scale robberies. Infiltrating a crime syndicate was another story. His family was an ongoing mercenary after all, but he wasn't anywhere near fifteen when his parents were thrown in jail. If he must be admitted himself, then, he would say that he had depended on his parents way too much._

 _Giran was right, Tarasu thought begrudgingly. His family business was surely dying. Rumors spread quickly in the midst of the shady underworld that he lived in, and the news that his parents were no longer capable of carrying out odd duties was impacting greatly on Tarasu's daily life._

 _But Tarasu spoke nothing of his thoughts, if anything, his quiet pondering reflected everything just enough. The hunchbacked boy contemplated on his own reflection on the dirty apartment window, his eyes traveled towards the bustling streets of downtown Tokyo._

 _For a second there, he felt like nobody else was in the room. Just him and his problems. What would his parent's do to save his current business? Surely, he did not wish to end up on the same track like his parents did: a lifetime behind bars._

 _Something must be done. Tarasu was a professional, he would've figured something out._

.

.

.

As the two teenagers sped at Mr. Adachi, Miyu was the first one to strike.

Adachi leaped upwards just in time to dodge the business end of Miyu's spear. While in mid-air, Adachi then delivered two attacks with his foot and fist straight towards Tarasu and Miyu.

The both of them were pushed backward, groaning in pain as they picked themselves up once more.

"How the hell did he do that?!" Miyu said through gritted teeth, holding the place where Adachi had struck her with his fist. "Damn, that hurts!"

As Adachi backed away from the two of them, Tarasu walked towards the skeleton girl. "Easy for you to say," He said as he ran a finger across the cracked diamond on his chest, "at least he didn't use his Quirk on you."

Miyu glanced at him. "Who taught you how to fight?"

"My dad," Tarasu answered simply. "Who thought _you_ how to fight?"

"My…" Miyu hesitated for a second, "… dad?"

After two seconds passed, the two of them realized that they were in the middle of battle.

With a loud "HYAAAH!" another challenger entered the battle. Mori was back again with her claws protracted from the tip of her fingers, she had leaped from somewhere inside the thick walls of smoke with a roar breaking through the atmosphere.

Mr. Adachi was suddenly startled, he lacked the weapons and the aid to fight these many people at once. Perhaps he could buy himself some time to think of his very own strategy to get out of this mess.

But then Adachi remembered… why he fought all of his own students. The sudden realization made him groan inside of his head before he… smirked under his breath.

As Mori successfully launched herself towards the back of Mr. Adachi's head, she quickly wraps her strong legs around his shoulders before digging her claws deep into his cheeks.

"NOW! ATTACK!" Mori shouted towards her team.

It was then that both Tarasu (with diamonds protruding from his arm down to his knuckles) and Miyu (with her pale, bone-like brass knuckles protruding out of her own knuckles) rushed towards Mr. Adachi with their arms pulled back for a double punch towards Mr. Adachi's torso.

Adachi was too preoccupied with Mori who were trying to claw his eyes out. As his hands were too busy holding away Mori's nails away from his face, this might be his loss.

Without thinking, Adachi pulled back his right leg and struck Miyu with a kick. However, Miyu saw this coming and blocked off his attack with a bone shield growing on her arms. Adachi delivered another kick, but this time, it successfully blocked off Tarasu's attack with the end of his foot.

With only his legs, Adachi managed to hold himself together. He then saw a chance for him to grab Mori's shirt collar besides his neck and threw her at Miyu as far as he could.

Mori surely wasn't expecting that; her reaction time was ultimately delayed. Miyu and Mori crashed together again with a loud painful shout from both girls.

Tarasu kept charging at him, eyes set forward towards any opening available.

As another strike was hit, both Tarasu and Adachi was back to exchanging blows and blocks. Unfortunately, Mr. Adachi was the first who saw an opening.

As Tarasu send a jab towards Adachi's face, the man quickly took his fist into his hand and his other hand grabbed at Tarasu's neck. With a quick pull upwards, Tarasu was lifted into the sky before being kicked away, with the same force that was delivered by Jun, while being in mid-air; resulting in Tarasu being launched yards away.

"Forgot about us?" Said an unknown voice behind Adachi.

Before the man could comprehend what was happening, two individuals appeared to both his right and left. One was a tall boy with white hair emitting smoke, and the other was one with liquid mercury orbiting around his body.

 **FSHOOOO!**

 **FSHOOOO!**

Both attacks were in the form of liquid and gas, and both were engulfing Adachi in complete darkness. Yato and Oboro hadn't given up their attacks just yet, they kept pouring more and more of their Quirks towards Adachi.

As Yato gave all of his mercury away for the sake of proving his theory, one thing crossed his mind.

He must never go out of control and accidentally kills Adachi.

.

.

.

 _Bright lights._

 _Bustling reporters._

 _And loud questions._

 _Yato was trapped, he couldn't move even an inch from where he stood. Under the light of the early morning sun, he was already exhausted in six a.m._

 _He kept his face down, not wanting to destroy what's left of his family's dignity after his father had ruined it first. When both of his father's bodyguards were standing right beside him to keep him safe, he only felt more and more distanced from his ideal._

 _He didn't know why. He didn't want to know why._

 _All of his life he had thought that, perhaps, what his father had done was wrong. Every training, every punches, and every insults that his father gave him, perhaps that wasn't how a parent was supposed to act. Also counting his mother, who was always away and never even paying attention to anything his father ever did to him._

 _He was right, he felt happy that he was right and they were wrong. But… it also felt bittersweet to know that his father and mother ran the hero world as much as any other average pro heroes do. It struck Yato's heart greatly when he realized that ruse of a chivalrous attitude that his father had, was also an epitome of hope in society._

 _How heartbroken he felt when he realized that he had break everyone's expectation. Not even a day ago, he even received death threats from people he didn't even know. He had a good guess, one he didn't like to believe forever, that his father and mother's actual admirers are now coming after him._

 _It's a great example of 'You aren't your father, but we don't care'._

 _As he snapped out of his thought, a loud shout drilled in his ear._

" _YOUNG SHIMURA! YOUNG SHIMURA!" Said a blonde haired female reporter with her hand outstretched while holding a microphone, she pushed through the line of policemen guarding him against people like her. "Is it true about what you said about your father? Did your father really abused you?"_

 _That question struck deep, it felt like, none of these people even believed in him._

" _Ma'am, would you please stay away!?" Said one of the police officers angrily. But before they could even comprehend her, another reporter burst in._

 _His train of thoughts stopped abruptly when, as he got closer towards the escort vehicle, people started booing at him. They jabbed out fingers, spat out curse words, and made him shrunk to the size of his own tiny self-confidence._

" _Yato Shimura! Did you know about your parent's misdeeds? If so, why couldn't you have reported it?" The middle-aged man said as he battled against the policemen._

" _LIAR!" Shouted a woman, her face contorted with fury._

" _GIVE US BACK OUR RESPECT!" A random middle-aged man said._

 _This was it… there was nothing that could convince Yato otherwise… his reputation was_ ruined _._

 _Yato ignored the man, whilst inside his heart, he wished that he could've cleared his misunderstanding. Thinking back, he actually understood (he really did) why he was too afraid to even make a single move. If you ask him whether or not it was because of his father's strength… no, it wasn't. It was his influence, rather._

 _He couldn't have stopped him, he knew that, right? His hands were tied from the start._

 _This made Yato finally realize how wrong he was to underestimate his father, the world, and society. How two-sided society's system of justice was… how fragile the respect for others that people have. It was rather depressing, seeing how one way or another Yato couldn't have done anything to prevent this._

 _Maybe there was something he was missing, something he could actually do… as of now..._

 _Like a sudden movement of an object at the corner of his eye, a quick painful sting struck the side of his crown. Yato winced in pain as a response, he took several confused steps back and looked around while shielding his brand new scar just an inch away._

 _They kept booing at him, they didn't care if he's hurt, and it's as if his feelings would affect their beliefs and agenda._

 _He felt like running, his heartbeat hammering against his ribcage, and he felt like vomiting out of pure disgust at himself and the world. His cowardice was a thing that he loathes at a time like this, it was the same kind of weight that brought him down from standing up to his own father who was in the wrong._

 _Yato shouted to himself while cowering from the incoming barrage of trash and pebbles, he couldn't let this go on… not anymore._

 _He had enough of being looked down upon…_

 _And like that, the shouts of the masses turned into horrified gasps as a ring of pure poisonous mercury encircled around at his feet. Like a telekinetic lifting rock, Yato lifted the hazardous element and orbited dozens of them around him like it was some sort of a bullet ready to be fired._

 _Grinding his teeth, Yato finally opened his eyes to see the faces of terror that he had struck upon them._

 _But instead of the feeling of authority, something different boiled inside of him: regret._

 _In this position… he wasn't doing any different from his father, was he? He became a monster in these people's eyes, these fearful eyes… the same eyes that he used to see his own old man. This burning rage, it was killing intent._

 _No._

 _This wasn't right. This wasn't going to clean his name._

 _Yato realized lashing out wasn't the way. He had no choice but to pull back his bullets of silver into his magazine. He turned quiet, quieter than ever, really. He felt like, if he spoke again, he couldn't hold himself back._

 _As the men clad in suits continued to escort him along the way, he clenched his fists tightly in hope for a better… idealistic future…_

.

.

.

Thick smoke and gaseous mercury filled the arena like a tornado during a hailstorm.

These two boys were careful to not accidentally choke Mr. Adachi who was in the middle of both their attacks. The man was, frankly, at his own mental edge. He had to choose between being choked to death and being poisoned to death.

Yato let out a slight smirk. "I see that Mori Kururugi was right, Mr. Adachi. Your weakness becomes vulnerable if figured out."

A click of a tongue was let out amidst the smoke and chaos; Adachi felt taken so far back as the two of them had somewhat figured it out. With one arm held out and reflecting back Yato's gaseous mercury attack, while the other clasped at his nose and mouth to prevent Oboro's smoke to go into any entrances to his lungs.

Meanwhile, outside the crossfire, one had a sudden thought.

" _Isn't he going to punch back?"_ Oboro thought with sudden wariness. _"Wolf girl was right, then?"_

In front of him, the grey-haired boy kept giving most of his all, while Oboro nonchalantly released every ounce of what seemed like unlimited gas out of his palm. It was a rather peculiar thing to experience while watching from a distance, as their attacks sounded like someone revving up a car engine to the maximum while burning up gas from its throttles.

This went on for a few seconds until Yato finally signaled Oboro to stop. As the mercury particles floated about in the air, Yato began collecting them back into his body, while Oboro (while looking very boorish) did not seem to be having any problems wasting away his smokes.

" _Was that enough?"_ Yato thought fearfully, his stances still strong. _"No… Adachi wouldn't be as weak as that…"_

Sunlight began to cross paths with the thin smokes in the air, and what came after was absolutely unpredicted: as the thinning walls of gas were starting to fade away, a sudden burst of shockwave filled the arena and what followed after were several rapid waves of mild force beating against the space in the arena like a heartbeat.

Yato and Oboro took a few steps back in wary, and that was all there is to it. Knowing how very powerful Adachi could be, the both of them wondered what he was planning with these rapid streaks of mild shockwaves.

When it became clear to them that Adachi was trying to clear out the smokes all along, it was too late.

"Well done, boys!" Adachi laughed profoundly, clapping both hands with each skin contact creating a small shockwave that struck every other one's body rhythmically.

After clearing the air, Adachi raised his hands up as a sign of defeat; or more specifically: admittance. "I really have to hand it to you guys, not only did you manage to exceed my expectations, you even managed to find my weakness!"

Adachi then raised his right arm and began to envelop it in a barrier. "You're right… I can only barrier-ize one part of my body at a time, a really annoying drawback if you ask me." And with that, he looked back towards the children encircling him. "But that's not what's important, what's really the point here is that you all managed to work together to do it. Really, looking at you all working together like this got me all fuzzy inside."

This made Date and Oboro glance at each other unknowingly, before looking away at once while shuddering in disgust.

A few seconds past and Adachi only filled his time with that shit-eating grin of his. "But alas, no matter how much you'll try to punch me at different places, I can change the place of my barriers in 0.01 second each time. That is to say that I can still spontaneously release energy from every part of my body."

The students encircled him, readying their fighting poses. But something held them back. Fear? Hesitancy?

"COME ON!" Adachi shouted at them, smiling ear to ear like a rage-induced monster waiting for its prey to strike the first, stupid blow. "DO YOU WANT TO BE HEROES?! THEN SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOT!"

A shockwave, coming from behind Adachi.

Just before the older men could respond with another word, something… no… _someone_ sped through the air like a cannon out of a tank. With his hand cocked back, he was ready to deliver his blow.

Jun was back, and his single visible eye was set to his target.

As both males were only inches apart, Jun suddenly muttered out: "Payback, bitch…"

With a quick raise of both arms, Adachi quickly shielded himself from the incoming projectile. And as both sides received a tremendous power beyond belief, with Adachi blocking away Jun's attack, a sudden explosion of earth-shattering quake suddenly tremored all around them.

Adachi was thrown back, his shoe soles leaving skid marks on the arena floor. Meanwhile, Jun was thrown far back but managed to regain his footing as he landed.

The lion-maned man hissed out in pain as he was a tad bit late to activate his Quirk, which was very shocking indeed.

Jun, however, had problems of his own. It seemed like his own energy was depleting, and something in his chest tightened like a snake.

Someone passed by him, and it was bright red in color. "Let's go, guys!"

With Mori on the move, the others followed suit. Some, however, stayed behind due to the inability of their Quirks strike in close range.

Oboro began shooting Suki a look full of desperation. "Can you do that thing with your eyes again?"

Suki returned to him a scowl full of disgust. "It's called 'Mirage'! And apparently, Adachi's mental capabilities is too strong for my powers…"

"Can't you at least boost it up?!"

The girl bit her bottom lip. "It always backfires when I do that…"

Hearing that, Oboro clicked his tongue in sudden annoyance. Looking forward, he saw the other kids rushing to battle without a single doubt in their minds.

" _Bullshit… this is all bullshit…"_ Oboro muttered inside his head.

The looming boy finally had already known his position, and he must play his part well if he wanted this to go towards where he wanted this to go. As much as he hated working for others, he didn't have any other options available, and the complications around him indicated that he… had to work together.

" _This is all bullshit… we're not going to win… there's no reformation program… it's all just a ruse…"_ He continued his bitter thoughts.

Was there even a chance for him to pass a semester? Let alone survive this risky battle?

Yes.

No.

Maybe… it would be better if he would just hide…

"… _Argh! Fuck it…"_

If hiding in the shadows of his own Quirk was his specialty, then he must use it to his advantage.

.

.

.

 _The sound of the van's engine hummed under his seat as Oboro started twiddling his thumbs against the little firearm in his hand._

 _He watched in boredom as he clicked the safety button on and off while sighing deeply. The gun was like his life, he contemplated; grey and dull and inevitably lost all of its appeal that made it seem dangerous._

 _Oboro hoped for the best, he shall play his part. After all, this deal that happened to struck him and these two men inside of this van had promised him quite a lot of money if done well._

 _Looking at his two acquaintances in the van, one was driving and the other was sitting across from him in the back of the van, he doubted that he'll get as much sum as promised. These two people were professional burglars; yep, they don't call themselves thieves, or criminals to that extent._

 _But he had heard stories, exaggerated ones too. If anything, he'll shake hands with them only if he'll able to cross his fingers behind his back._

 _The man with the purple sprayed Mohawk in the back seat started cackling maniacally. "Yo, Trasher! How about this one?"_

 _The Mohawk man then showed the beefy man on the front wheel his mobile phone, and after the large man named Trasher looked at the screen and then back at the road, he started laughing with a deep voice._

" _Yeah, we can try that!" The man named Trasher said enthusiastically._

 _Oboro kept himself collected, but if it was something about his current task, then, he'd be lying if he had said that he wasn't curious._

 _The Mohawk man then turned to him with a devilish grin. "Alright, newbie, what d'ya think of this one?"_

 _As the man handed him his mobile phone, he immediately saw a picture of a large mansion from some kind of an internet article. There were albums and albums of photos depicting the same expensive mansion and in the header of the article was the words '_ _ **The Rich Life of Subaru Koyanagi.**_ _'._

 _Oboro made a look of concern as he raised his eyebrow. "Mohawk, this guy's too high profile. There's too much risk—"_

 _Then, Mohawk immediately made a shushing noise with his finger. "Look, kid, our intel is one of the best, aight? And we just got info that last week, the Koyanagi Corporation got a huge debt or something! Ain't no security guards are being paid. At. All! The doughs right there in that big-ass mansion, just waiting to come back to daddy!"_

 _The younger male stared blankly at Mohawk's sudden enthusiasm, when he looked down again, there was a small change of heart. Originally, when he had proved himself worthy of the title of a professional burglar after a robbery at a certain supermarket, he had only decided to join heists that only involves the middle classes. And he did hear about the impending downfall of the Koyanagi Corporation, and yes, he was tempted._

 _But still…_

" _Nah," Oboro said, shaking his head as he returned the mobile phone back to its rightful owner. "We don't have the equipment."_

 _Mohawk only chuckled lightly at that. "What's wrong? Pussying out, already? You ain't gonna get nothing with that kinda attitude." After that, he banged his fist on the back of Trasher's seat as he laughed. "Besides! Nobody cares if we made one or two collateral damages. Ain't that right, Trasher?_

" _Damn right, boss!" Trasher laughed along. "Smoky-kid can use his smoke, too, right, boss?"_

 _Mohawk shot Oboro a toothy grin, one that spoke out predatory clearly. "Damn right… so don't think about backing away now, kid!"_

 _At first, Oboro was convinced. Convinced that he could do this heist smoothly like how he did all of his heists. He had hoped, in himself, and in his two acquaintances whether he liked it or not._

 _Oh, how big of a mistake that was._

 _If Oboro hadn't let his own guard down, if he would've just disagreed with the two from earlier, then none of this would've happened._

 _His heart hammered against his ribcage, his breath got caught inside the bandana that he used to cover his face, and his hands trembled as he let them fall on top of the harsh concrete under him. His body aches all over, and his lock on his arm was tightened painfully as the police kept looking around the area for other possible suspects._

 _His face was practically kissing the cold, wet grass under him as several other policemen held him down to prevent him from using his Quirk._

 _Oboro had no hope left in him. Besides, there was no way he could call back that two, treacherous, backstabbing, sons of bitches that abandoned him on the mansion just for them to get the exit in time before the police came to respond to the house alarm that was so obvious that people like Koyanagi would have one in their mansions._

 _Oboro was stupid enough to fall into temptation. And when his own uncontrollable fury filled his heart, blocking away the shouts of the policemen, he will NEVER fall into anybody's lies ever again._

 _As the good guys took him away, he never spoke even once even when he was brought to court._

.

.

.

As Adachi managed to drive away another student out of his way, he felt something coming that's giving him goosebumps… and an awful smell of burning.

The man's instinct had never failed him even once, and thus he had a pretty good idea of who was making thick layers of smoke circling around him. With a quick gulp of fresh air, Adachi quickly held shut his mouth and nose with his hand before a storm of greyish white passed through him.

Adachi's respiratory system was at great risk but he managed to prevent any of these dangerous smokes from entering his system. But nonetheless, the rest of his body was too vulnerable to attack, and his eyes were in great pain as thousands of tiny needles seemed to be pinching his entire body.

He managed to create a barrier around his head but leaving the rest of his body exposed. When he spun around, he was greeted by the sight of a tall, looming boy with smoke oozing from every hole in his clothes.

"I regret doing this, you know," Oboro spoke up, blowing out a puff of smoke from his mouth. "So you owe me a bed after this."

The boy got into a stance. His arms began to move in a liquid manner, controlling his smokes as he did. With his palms, he collected many of his thick gas in between his two hands, with an unfaltering gaze Oboro pushed his hands forward… and a raging storm of needle-sharp gas flew towards Adachi.

Adachi was a man of observation, and from what he saw, Oboro had his limits in blowing smoke. This storm wasn't as thick as his last smoke walls, therefore, he was reaching his limit.

Regardless, being in the way of sharp gas is inherently dangerous. Knowing this, Adachi canceled the barrier on his face and applied it on his left arm, in which he struck the concrete with his blow and hid behind the shield that was his whole arm. With this, the smoke was split in half, none of them hitting Adachi.

Oboro was taken aback, he then recalled his army of gas back to his body and began facing Adachi eye to eye.

But as the smoke around them was thinning, Oboro was then seen to be standing alongside the other students that chose to fight Adachi.

As the older man stood up, he readied himself a stance of battle.

Meanwhile, back at the spectator spots, the tall girl Suki was greeted by a newer voice, "Suki, hold on!" It was Seiji Orimura himself, coming out of the leftover smoke as if he had another trick up his sleeve. "I have a plan, but you'll have to trust me…"

The look of hope on Seiji's face was too much for Suki to bear. The girl threw her face away before saying, "W-whatever… it's not like I can't do it myself…"

Meanwhile, back at the ongoing fight, several of the kids began attacking Adachi at every open spot that he had. A storm of war cries, powerful shockwaves, smoke bombs, and other extremely dangerous attacks were thrown about at one man who seemed to be handling himself far better than the class had anticipated.

Adachi wasn't playing around, he had already proved that. But seeing how he was taking on a dozen of murderous children, it was clear that this man could be on a level with All Might.

As Miyu prepared herself another set of a ragged-edged spear, Mori readied herself and her palms open for the double team technique that they had planned on. Miyu quickly dashed towards the wolf girl and leaped on top of her open palms, then, with Mori's strength, Miyu dived spear first towards her target.

Adachi heard her war cry and averted his attention from his last opponent Tarasu. With a cold face, Adachi top half bent backward, dodging Miyu's spear above him just in time before getting his face sawed in half.

With a quick turn of his body, his leg shot up towards Miyu's torso with only his spinning momentum. When Miyu was thrown back with enough force to send her flying, he didn't expect was that Mori herself had appeared from under his last opponent with both her claws protracted from her fingers.

A horrendous growl came out of Mori's throat, and her claws swung upwards to strike at his throat. Regardless, Adachi was reflexively faster, and he parried away her hand just in time to regain his footing.

As Mori kept her own barrages of kicks and scratches aimed towards Adachi, the man himself realized that two other opponents were speeding at him and readying their own Quirks.

Adachi had to think of a way out, his first issue was the charging train Date, and the second was the diamond-clad boy Tarasu. And it seemed like Miyu was ready for her second move.

Clenching the muscles of his mouth, Adachi quickly grabs Mori by her wrist before quickly spinning her around with her own momentum and intentionally throwing her towards the oncoming Tarasu. Now that those two are out of the way, Adachi had only a mere second to leap off of the ground and avoid Date's attack by going over him.

After he evaded the unstoppable force, he was left with Miyu as an opponent. He sped towards her with each foot combusting great energy to propel him forward quickly.

As he was ready to face whatever Miyu was planning to attack him with, something about her seemed awfully off and… glitchy…

And before he knew it, the face that was once Miyu was now the face of the fair-skinned damsel clad in robotic parts with her metamorphosed cybernetic hand pointing at his face.

Adachi's brain was off for a second, but as Mika's open arm was glowing a bright shade of blue he had to propel himself out of her line of sight.

 **KA-THOOOM!**

He dodged her mini cannon just in time as he forcefully braked his own body as to not get incinerated by the hot pressurized ray of destruction that barely struck his shoulder.

"DAMMIT!" Shouted an angered voice from the distance. Seiji and Suki were side by side as the girl's eyes were glowing in a purplish hue, signaling that she was once more using her Quirk against him. Seconds after Adachi dodged the cannon that went his way, Suki begrudgingly canceled her powers.

"If only I would've just waited one more second…" Suki said through gritted teeth. "He wouldn't have been able to dodge that…"

"But you did great!" Seiji said reassuringly. "Keep messing with his vision! I'll see what I can do!"

Back at Adachi's side, he too felt the panic and wary that was slowly building up inside of him. He needed to be more careful, way past his usual cautiousness when it came to fighting these kids.

After quickly brushing off the heated part of his shoulder from nearly missing possibly a hundred degrees of heat blasted at his face, he reverted his attention back to the robotic girl in front of him.

Mika's hand was still pointed towards him, but then with a loud mechanical whir, the shape that once took the appearance of a mini cannon transformed quickly into her normal bionic arm with bluish hues running like a river throughout one part of her body.

Unexpectedly, Mika's body began whirring loudly again, and instead of an arsenal out of her body, a pair of thrusters opened up at both of her shoulder blades. With a loud and rather high pitched explosion, Mika sped forward.

With both propellers on both feet and shoulder blades, her movements were entirely boosted into a raging hailstorm of mechanical death.

From her upper arm, a talon-like blade was ejected from a narrow slit. As her feet boosters propelled her upwards, her shoulder blade propellers spun her around until her momentum was strong enough to cut even a plate of steel in half.

Adachi watched as Mika was merely a foot above his head while he was rooted to the ground, her blade was ready to cut downwards and end his life.

This was certainly a deadly move, but Adachi knew that they wouldn't just rely on one attack if they already knew his weakness.

Now, cue the boy who broke through the smoke-filled horizon with the unhinged smile, rushing at him with a pale bone dagger in one hand and a crazed lust for battle on the other.

Another teenager ran his way towards Adachi as well; Tarasu's gleaming body of diamonds protruded from his cocked back fist, ready to strike a painful blow.

The skeleton lady also managed to pull herself together for another attack.

This was certainly no good, if Adachi had to stall himself in one position there's no telling how many will come to their aid. The man had to move, quickly. But, seeing how cornered he was, he needed to think of something. Fast.

As Mika began to shot her thrusters and dived down for a slice, Adachi had already created a barrier on his shoulder. And when her attack crashed with his unbreakable shield, deeming her blade useless, Adachi immediately swung his fist downwards towards the ground; just like the crater kick move Jun did earlier.

A powerful explosion of force blew each of the students backward, and as the four other opponents had been neutralized it's time to deal with Mika once more.

Adachi was quick, way to powerfully quick. And with a boost of his powers, his kick shot upwards with so much force to propel Mika back with twice the powers of her own thrusters.

Mika immediately saw this attack and propelled herself back before Adachi's kick could even get to her. However, the man himself wasn't even aiming for a strike, but when Mika's stray foot was in his grasp, Adachi quickly reached it before Mika had the time to boost herself away.

Panicked, Mika began shooting her engines with all her might. When she was propelled back, so does Adachi. However, as strong as her thrusters were, Mr. Adachi's weight was just too much for her engine to carry with.

And when Mika finally slowed down, Adachi tightened the grip on her ankles before practically throwing her out of bounds. The sudden momentum gave Mika no time to propel herself back, only to have her being caught by no other than Mori.

Adachi finally had time to breathe, he wiped off his sweat-drenched chin before sighing to himself. When Mika had unintentionally pulled himself with her, he managed to get distance from the rest of the class.

Only to have another one coming at him with a killing intent like no other.

The man cursed to himself when Jun seemingly appeared out of nowhere, his fists vibrating abnormally, and his single visible eye was deadlocked onto his.

Something on his face showed that, to him, the world meant nothing but defeating his opponent.

.

.

.

 _Jun's breath was steady, soft and raspy; something between mixtures of exhaustion and boredom. From an outsider's view, he could even be pronounced dead._

 _With layers and layers of thick bandages-like cloths that strapped his body like a tight straightjacket connecting to the inner walls, Jun was trapped in the heat of his own body only with his head and his two feet naked in the open air._

 _His cell was white, incredibly so when dozens of thick pads covered the room from the floor to the roof._

 _The reason was to cancel out his Quirk, 'Quake Trigger', from destroying this very prison. Jun remembered, of course, when he had 'accidentally' caused several of the floors below him including his own cell floor to crash inwards._

 _The boy suddenly felt very melancholic, destruction and mayhem was his forte after all._

 _But he felt empty, useless, and regretful. Locked away in this eyesore of a cell was one thing, but haunted by the memories of the people who did him wrong was another._

 _When he heard the footsteps coming out of the corner just outside the transparent anti-shatter window with protective film covering it from both sides._

 _A man with a lion-maned hair while holding onto a pile of documents came into view, he glanced into the insides of the cell for a second before going on his way towards the small desk just across of it. This man was Hisaki Adachi, a warden of sorts. But his only inmate that he was tasked to keep an eye on was Jun himself, and he had been doing this for a year and a half._

 _Jun noticed that the man not even a thing to him; it annoyed him. "Hey…" He started. "Hey… get me out of here…"_

" _I'm not in the mood, Jun…" Said Adachi, his badge gleaming on his pocket._

 _Jun blinked at him. "Whose stick got up your tight ass?" He remarked, before scoffing with a loud snort. He tossed and turned in his clothed chains, trying to get the man's attention._

" _Well, apart from you," Adachi responded with a cold face, picking a document file from the pile he had just brought in, "my higher-ups had been pushing my buttons all day…"_

" _Uh-huh…" Jun said. He wasn't even looking like he was hearing any word that he said. "What? Too much of a pussy to fight back?"_

" _If 'pussying out' meant respecting the decisions of wiser men, then yes," Adachi said, not taking his bait._

" _Heh. No wonder you look weak, 'cause you don't even have a strong enough self-pride to back it up! I thought wardens are supposed to be scary and intimidating..." Jun said with a loud cackle as he began glowering at Adachi. "I could probably take you on with one hand behind my back."_

" _Yeah, of course, you could, kid," Adachi said as he began writing on one of the documents. "And for the record… I'm a 'suppressor', not a warden…"_

" _Don't look any different to me…"_

" _Wardens can punch back if the inmate had done wrong," then, he started to look at Jun with the eyes similar to that of a tiger's, "I, on the other hand, don't need to punch you just to get you to comply."_

 _Jun took his words for a bit of thought, before ultimately throwing it away._

" _Why do you work here, then? Guarding me and all?" Jun asked. That question had been lodged on the back of his head far longer than he imagined._

 _Adachi took a while to answer, and when he did, he wasn't even looking at Jun anymore. "I have my reasons, kid." There was a long sigh before he added: "Besides, I'm not going to doing that anymore."_

 _That made Jun's head perk up in confusion, his brows furrowed in puzzlement. "What the hell are you talking about?"_

" _I'm just saying that this was going to happen someday," Adachi replied with a low grunt, there was a slight something in his tone that made him sounded more on the edge than usual. "Look, we talked about this last month and—"_

" _You're kidding," Jun said with disbelief, his gaze lowering gradually. "You… you… YOU PROMISED YOU WOULDN'T LEAVE ME ALONE!"_

 _Adachi was taken aback when a sudden loud implosion was heard from inside Jun's cell. The man realized that Jun was trying to activate his Quirk inside of an anti-earthquake clothing, he saw it when the small child was practically screaming madly, struggling and thrashing about inside his straps._

 _But the fact that his Quirk could literally destroy cities wasn't what made Adachi grow exponentially worried, rather, it was the fact that Jun's Quirk could literally destroy himself._

" _JUN STOP! STOP!" Adachi said with panic, quickly rushing out of his desk and closer to Jun's cell. "I'LL EXPLAIN IT TO YOU ONLY IF YOU'LL STOP! NOW, JUN!"_

 _The thirteen years old was a ticking time bomb, with the overheating warnings were him crying his eyes out and screaming loudly until an entire cell block could hear it._

 _Adachi began banging his palms on Jun's transparent cell door. "DAMMIT JUN! STOP THIS, I... YOU'LL HURT YOURSELF—AARGH!"_

 _The man was out of options, he knew that this wasn't going to stop without any proper drugging tools to help him calm down. The kid had to be put down somehow, right?_

 _Without hesitation, Adachi immediately pulled his fist back and punched the anti-shatter window with enough force to shatter it. The window broke into hundreds of millions of pieces, and it was Adachi's cue to come to the rescue._

 _The man grabbed the trashing boy with his arms, embracing him with a tight squeeze just outside the thick layers of fabric. Adachi could feel the immense power that Jun was releasing, and it was hurting himself even more than he was hurting the man holding him. Adachi activated his Quirk, suppressing Jun's Quirk exponentially and lowered the risk of damage to the both of them._

 _After a while, Jun stopped. But he was still gasping for air after his explosion of emotions earlier. The boy was unstable, Adachi knew that, but he realized that there were some things that were worth protecting._

" _God… Jun, can you hear me?" Adachi said as he began lowering Jun to the padded floor. "Come on… goddammit… Jun… your heart…"_

 _The man gritted his teeth in stress and alert as he felt the weakest pulse a young man like Jun had on his neck. This was bad, this was really bad._

 _Adachi quickly undid the knots and ties on the straps that were holding Jun together, he began doubling his speed as he heard Jun began choking for air. When the straps became loose, and Jun was somewhat free, Adachi quickly put his palms on top of the boy's chest._

 _He began pushing his hands downwards, his angle was just right to get the heart to work again. In his mind he kept begging, praying, to god for strength and luck, because in this world there was no one else he'd rather save._

 _Jun made a long gasp, choking on his saliva as he began storing up the air inside his lungs. Adachi made a brief check at his neck, and when he felt a throbbing pulse, he sighed in relief._

 _Just another day on the job._

" _I won't leave you, Jun… just trust me on this…"_

.

.

.

Of course, Adachi wasn't kidding when he said that he wasn't playing around. Rather, he was simply pissed and admired the guts that this one kid had.

Jun threw mild shockwaves at him and managed to land some kick on him only to make contact with Adachi's unbreakable shield. Growls and barks and shouts filled the air as Jun continued his beast-like offensives towards Adachi.

But the man immediately saw an opening, and he quickly took it.

When Jun gave a strong side jab, Adachi was quick to go beside him only to strike him with the elbow on where it would hurt the most. Jun was pushed back with the force equal to his normal attacks, but for whatever reason, he kept himself moving forward despite the throbbing pain in his chest.

As small as he was, you had to give it to him for being impeccably evasive.

Adachi had enough. When Jun delivered a kick straight to his shin, the man quickly covered his leg with a barrier before reaching his hand out towards the opening at Jun's neck.

With a painful gasp, Jun was immediately brought down with Adachi's grip still holding where it would be painful.

Jun was struggling in his grip as Adachi held him by the neck in the air. As he was trying to create a tremor in Adachi's upper arm, the man had already shielded it with his barrier, deeming Jun's resistance entirely futile.

"I have to give it to you for being admirably reckless," Adachi said, questioning why he wasn't giving his punches hi all. "Did you really think that you had the chance after last time?"

Jun said nothing, he kept gritting his teeth in anguish. But before Adachi could even consider him mercy, Jun smirked.

"It's called diversion, asshole…"

And like that, the Jun that he was holding in his hand emitted the brightest explosion of light he had ever seen. Adachi had no time to comprehend what was happening. And after a split second moment, the weight on his grip was gone, and the man was facing someone entirely different.

Kaori had successfully managed to let Adachi's guard down as she switched places with Jun in a blink of an eye. When Adachi's grip on her neck loosened, Kaori had the chance to strike at him with a full kick at his chin.

It worked!

The girl knew that when Adachi was still covering his arm with his barrier, he left his entire body completely vulnerable. And when that sweet sound of bone hitting bone, Kaori's heart felt like it had just been sent to nirvana.

Adachi stumbled back, he had completely lost his balance. Kaori knew better, however, that one kick wasn't enough to bring him down.

"MIKA GET READY!" Kaori shouted as she landed on the concrete with ease.

And with another flash of light, the face that was once Kaori has then changed again to the robotic girl Mika. But instead of her forearm blade, Mika was pointing his bright blue mini cannon straight at his face.

 **THOOOM!**

The projectiles were shot with a loud high pitched explosion and bright bluish beam that struck through the air like a red-hot needle.

In Adachi's head, he seemed to believe himself that blocking said beam with his own barriers was his only option available; and he did just that. The gamma beam that Mika fired this time didn't have the same cartridge like the one she fired earlier, instead, in accordance to the shape of how wide her arm nozzle point was, the beam was evidently spreading wider and covering more of its target.

However, Adachi's barrier could easily divide the gamma beam exponentially like a rock splitting through a river. It was as if her beam was working like a shotgun: widening at the end, but deadly if caught as well.

In result, he wasn't being pushed back at all.

The man gritted his teeth in stress as he tried his best to cancel out the bright beam force rushing his way. It was as if Mika wasn't trying to push his back, though, it was as if she was trying to block out his exits. His Quirk was storing up momentum and energy, but the saying 'don't bite more than you can chew' was practically kicking him in the ass right then.

"I'M COMING AT YOU, OLD MAN!" Came the sudden thundering voice of Date.

Adachi saw him at the corner of his eye, just outside the bluish beam of light. The silhouette of the raging train was coming closer to him at ten meters per second. But it was practically impossible for him to do that without going through the red-hot blast that Mika had fired.

The man was put in a corner, even he couldn't go anywhere. But the question was: how would Date be able to go through that beam?

As a massive object crashed into him, he had no time to do anything at all. The rampaging train came at his side like an abnormally powerful wrecking ball; he could've sworn he heard something break in him.

Adachi gritted his teeth in pain as Date kept pushing him with incredible speed, but that wasn't was got Adachi worried, it was the fact that Date himself was covered in rock hard glimmering diamonds.

So that's how he managed to pass through Mika's gamma beam without getting burned himself.

Heh. Smart.

Adachi cocked his fists back when his pain endurance was already at its limit, his bottled-up force than was released all at once to fight back against the exact same force that was crashing into him.

Both Adachi and Date was thrown in different directions. The man in crumpled white shirt landed easily on his legs while his front limbs canceled out the friction of him going backward, Date did the same but it looked like he didn't go that far back.

Adachi could finally clearly see, that Date's arms along with his shoulders and down to his upper torso were covered entirely in thick glimmering diamonds. When Adachi struck at his face, Date was already shielding his face from the blast, resulting in the bottled up force that Adachi fired to be suppressed entirely by the thick diamonds.

Date lowered his hands, and let out a small heinous smirk.

Adachi's brows furrowed, something inside him besides the pain in his ribcage felt wrong somehow. And like a sudden bullet to the head, Adachi finally realized something; " _Those attacks! They weren't giving me all their powers, and as a result, I didn't have enough power collected to fight back! Damn…_ "

The man didn't have any choice but to push himself to stand up, readying himself for their next move. He wiped his face from the gallons of exhausted sweat that ran down his entire body like a waterfall; even his white shirt had blotches of wetness now.

Without even stepping a single foot, his legs were already refusing to move. But it wasn't because he was tired; rather, it was because of the pale, sharp, solid substances covering his feet and rapidly growing up to his knees.

Bone, Adachi immediately deduced. Looking around, he saw a trail of protruding bones leading his way from someone standing five meters from his back.

They got him in the corner now, Miyu must've known that Adachi was completely out of juice and decided to trap him. But to them, this wasn't enough.

From the corner of Adachi's eye was another individual, sporting a grey hair and the Quirk of mercury, and another one, looming and intimidating with smokes spewing from his mouth.

" _Crap! Are they trying to kill me?!"_ Adachi questioned with worry inside his head. He began trying to lift his own feet, but the number of bones around his shoes was too thick.

The man lost his time, and Yato was already firing his Quirk at his two feet. With the bones growing exponentially, the mercury substances began circling around his feet like cement. Now, it was proven that Yato could do more than just controlling liquid mercury; he could even solidify them.

Adachi had to bit his bottom lip to prevent himself from cursing out in front of the children. He saw no way out of this due to the rising smoke that was building around him.

Meanwhile, far from his line of sight, was a group of people huddling together; namely Seiji, Kaori, and Suki.

From outside the group, Oboro and Tarasu came up to them in a hurry. "I hope you all have thought of something 'cause I'm running out of juice, here…" Said Oboro.

"Yeah…" Seiji admitted. "We have."

"It… has a high chance of it not going to work!" Kaori said with a bit of skepticism, crossing her arms with stress. "We don't have anyone who can throw it far enough! And… I-I don't think I can do it… Besides, if he even caught a glimpse of us at the corner of his eye, we're dead!"

Seiji suddenly felt his heart rate fastened. "B-but, we saw how he reacted with Suki's powers earlier! He didn't even see Mika being disguised as Miyu!" The boy then took several steps closer towards Kaori. "You have to trust me on this! We already have him trapped, we just need to execute our next plan!"

Kaori merely looked at him in shock, before her face fell completely. "But… we don't have anyone who can throw it that far…"

The both of them looked at the piece of concrete on Kaori's palm, the rough size of it filled her entire hand completely. Seiji and the others present merely exchanged worried glances before a zooming sound came up to them.

Mika suddenly arrived with her booster opened. "Why the wait?" She said with a tone of worry.

"Mika!" Seiji suddenly spoke up. "Do you think you can throw this at Adachi with your cannon?"

The girl in question stared at the concrete before looking back at Seiji. "I might, but… I fear that I might not throw it fast enough." Mika then glanced at her thrusters on her shoulder blades, which seemed to be turning on and off uncontrollably as if the power had been depleted.

"Damn it!" Tarasu cursed under his breath, his muscles already glistening with sweat as he huffed and puffed in exhaustion.

It all seemed hopeless, their hopes were already going down the drain. Their plan was going smoothly until one complication was making their situation much more difficult. Now, they had no idea how to execute the next stage of their plan. But Seiji still had his hopes high enough to think of something.

He inhaled deeply. "Look… what if we—"

And just like that, a newer, rougher voice interrupted him. "Get out of my way…"

Seiji felt something small bumping into his shoulder, and he immediately noticed the brunette hair no one other than Jun Hamada.

The short boy rudely got into the middle of the group's conversations, but instead of making another rude remark the boy immediately came up to Kaori and took the piece of concrete from her palm.

As the boy walked away, Kaori spun around in puzzlement. "Wait! Jun! I thought—"

"I ain't owing any of you anything after this!" Jun said with a bark. As he got about five steps away from the group, he got into a stance and pulled his hands behind his head for a powerful throw.

As Kaori stared at him in bewilderment, Jun suddenly looked over his shoulder at her. "Just… get your asses ready… or something…"

Without even half a second later, Jun's throwing arm was already vibrating violently as he stored up enough power before exponentially throwing it all out. Behind him stood Kaori and Seiji, the both of them exchanged glances, before ultimately nodding to each other with looks of determination.

"Suki! Now!" Seiji shouted into the air.

Suki responded to his callings at once. "Got it!" She said as she got into a stance and pointing out both her hands before activating her Quirk.

Now, Adachi was completely perplexed. He saw the world spinning around him and distorting uncontrollably, and because of his lack of power, he couldn't break himself out of this hallucination.

"Tell Yato and Miyu to get out of there!" He said to the rest of the gang, before turning back to Kaori. "You ready?"

Kaori nodded her head. "Yes."

Seiji nodded back at her, before walking away to get into position. "Good, then we'll—"

"H-hey, Seiji…" Kaori suddenly said, earning Seiji's attention. A brief silence passed, "… wish me luck, okay?"

Seiji merely smiled at her. "Got it. Remember to get out of here once you've switched with me, okay? I don't know how far my Quirk can affect the area."

"Don't worry…" Kaori said reassuringly, looking back at Jun, "I will…"

It was then that everything seemed to stop at that one moment, the moment where Jun gripped tight at the piece of concrete and began to throw it upwards with his non-vibrating hand. When the rock went down, and once it stopped right in front of him, Jun knew it was his moment.

" **DIE!** " Jun growled as the force that he blasted from the slap that he gave to the falling piece of concrete made the winds around them to fly uncontrollably. The shockwave was indeed powerful enough to bring anyone to their knees and throwing a piece of rock far enough to the Tokyo Tower itself.

The sound of the concrete flying through the air was like hearing a jet: it was ridiculously fast.

Kaori had no time to hesitate, she had already perceived the piece of concrete speeding through space in her mind. And with a quick flash of light, she changed places with said object.

The girl finds herself flying through the air as the momentum carried by the piece of concrete was given to her completely. She should've brought goggles because she couldn't practically see anything amongst the smoke and wind, but she could make out the silhouette of a trapped figure in front of her in a split second moment.

Jun threw the stone just right, she was heading where Seiji wanted her to be. She had to change her places with Seiji before she crashes into Mr. Adachi. She might not able to see Seiji completely, but she could perceive where he was in her mind, therefore, she can do it.

She must do it.

With another change of light midair right after the first half a second ago, she switched places again.

In front of the bright flash of light was Mr. Adachi, dazed and hallucinated. But he had a pretty good idea where the sound of that jet coming from, then, with only his instincts, he immediately put a barrier on his head.

Even though he knew where it was coming, Adachi didn't know what was coming. His eyes were still transfixed upon the distorted world around him.

And before he realized it…

 **TWHACK!** Goes the sound of skull hitting skull.

The pain struck him on his forehead even through the barrier that was supposed to be unbreakable.

Seiji was like a silver bullet for Mr. Adachi; whether he made it to target or crashed into the man's barrier instead, it'll still hurt him due to the inevitable effect of Seiji's Quirk.

Adachi gritted his teeth in pain as the object that struck his forehead was able to hurt him at all, the momentum of the object that crashed at his head was pushing him backward and out of the pale chains that were stuck to his feet.

Before Seiji could even land properly on the concrete ground, he had to bounce of twice after having his forehead struck the barrier of Mr. Adachi.

His last painful thought was that he took back everything he said about him being able to handle the pain of crashing into the seemingly unbreakable wall, and him being positive about this working as well as he thought it would be or something of that sort.

After Seiji stopped abruptly on the floor, he began lifting his own limping body until he could stand on his own two feet. At first, he saw blurry images of nothing at all, but when his pain-tear filled eyes were starting to adjust themselves, he saw the body of Mr. Adachi spread-eagled on his back.

At first, Seiji couldn't believe it, he was rooted to the floor with disbelief. But when the others began coming closer to him to see if he did it, he was more than sure that Adachi was indeed, out cold.

"I did it…" Seiji muttered out, then, he started to laugh with a lopsided smile. "Hehe… I… I actually did it! WOO-HOO! – Gah! I need to lie down…"

When Kaori began comforting him as the giant bruise on his head was starting act up again, the boy that was Tarasu Kobayashi began walking towards the limp body if Mr. Adachi.

"This guy wasn't kidding was he?" He said with awe, looking at his bruised arms with an alert.

"Is he… going to be alright?" Suki suddenly said with worry.

Her question was answered when a dry chuckle finally broke the silence. From confusion, their expression turned into wary, and then into panic as the body of Mr. Adachi began lifting itself up.

But before any of them could raise their arms or activate their Quirks, Adachi was already raising his hands up as a sign of defeat.

"You got me…" He said as he began to sit with his legs out, his face seemed worn out and completely out of breath. "Honestly I'm… I think I blacked out there for a couple of seconds… ouch!"

Everyone else only looked at him in… well… fear. There was quite the silence amongst the people present in the area, and it wasn't just any normal silence, the atmosphere was quite heavy too.

As the liquid mercury around Adachi began to seep away, the man began using the large mountain of pale bones that were used to hold his legs in place as a resting place for his back and muscles.

"Alright then," Adachi said with an actual genuine smile. "You win. If this was an entrance exam, you all passed. And if it was to go any further, then I'll certainly be dead."

Seiji felt something lifting itself from his shoulders, his eyes widened, and his jaw-dropping slowly. But that wasn't what made him, or the other kids present, as surprised when he heard the next words that came out of Adachi's mouth.

"Congratulations!" Adachi said, his knees still weak to even lift himself up but he did so anyway. "You got our attention! We, the teachers of U.A, are remarkably impressed with all of you here today."

No one here was used to being praised, literally, everyone was frozen with shock and relief. As the clouds began filling up the sky, the hot sunlight was partly closed off, and the spring breeze blew through their hairs, Adachi began clapping to himself.

The kids exchanged glances, some were filled with blank faces that told everything, and some smiled at each other with glee. Seiji only stared at the man before him, unsure if he had said what he thought he had said.

As Adachi stopped clapping, he sighed to himself. "But, a promise is a promise."

He then pointed to one of the gates in front of him and behind the kids. The sound of mechanical objects whirring and gears turning can suddenly be heard as if it was on cue with the averting of their attention.

As the gate door slide open, the outside of the stadium could be seen from afar.

Seiji and the kids were already walking towards the newfound light with curiosity in their heads without the need to be led by Mr. Adachi himself, who only followed them all from behind.

They came to the end of the gate, greeted by the sight of a giant building across of the stadium. Before the said building was patches and patches of green grass filled with several pink cherry blossoms and dense bushes of green spread throughout the fields.

The class stared at the view in awe, mesmerizing it for the last time before they eventually leave this place for good. That was the deal, after all; fight Mr. Adachi and win, and retrieve the prize of their freedom.

Was it too late to take agreement? Most of them had thought.

Adachi merely smiled in satisfaction behind them. "This shall be our last goodbye, kids. You all have worked hard to earn this, and each of you deserves it." He said as he put his hand on Seiji's shoulder.

The boy in front of him turned his head back at the man, staring at him as if he was hoping for some kind of miracle or a change of heart. The same went for most of everyone else, looking at Mr. Adachi for something that would show that he would be more than happy to have them here.

They did risk their lives for a pipe dream that they had hoped for a long time.

Little did they know that Adachi's heart never changed one bit.

"The dorm building is over there, by the way." Adachi suddenly added, pointing into a building that was just at the end of several other similar buildings of the same shape; he said this with a mischievous smile.

Not long after, someone finally spoke up. "I GET DIBS ON BIGGEST BED!"

As Mori began sprinting away on her four limbs, laughing maniacally and joyfully as she did, the bulky boy Date suddenly got irritated. "DAMN YOU! I WANT THAT BED!"

The two ran into the distance. The rest? They followed suit.

The children were laughing, shouting (angrily or playfully, it was hard to tell the difference), and overall, having the best moment of their lives.

But one boy stayed behind, looking at the ruckus from afar, his long bangs getting caught in the breeze making the scar on his left eye visible for a split second moment.

A hand fell on Jun's shoulder, it was soft and genuine.

"Why don't we have a little chat, Jun?" Adachi said with a tone of sadness and relief.

As the boy looked up at him, he merely threw his face away. "Fine…"

* * *

 **OK, so that's the end of this arc. Next up is probably the introduction of them to the whole entire school.**

 **And since I'm planning to have an ongoing story with some parallel plots, I think this story is going to continue for a long run.**

 **On another note, I was also planning to write some short stories about the class (OVAs or fillers or something like that) that don't have anything to do with the plot; just some miscellaneous adventures starring Seiji and co. And not just that, I was also thinking of opening a commission for you guys (YES, ALL OF YOU WHO ARE READING THIS) who want to request something along the lines of "Oh! I want to see them in a school festival/holiday special/beach episode!"**

 **Hey! Here's an idea! Why not having some of you write some stories for me? If you want to of course. It'll be like a fanfiction's "fan fiction".**

 **Just tell me what you think about that, and whether or not I should write them in this fanfic or a new one.**

 **Bye for now.**

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

 **Whose great idea was it to have the class to be introduced to the public? Will the other classes get along with them?**

 **Also, what limits do these children have? Can they learn a thing or two from Aizawa?**

 **And will they finally meet their long-awaited new beginnings?**

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

 **R &R**


	6. The Strength in Numbers (omake)

**A short story to finish up the last chapter (starring Miyu, Seiji, and the teachers)**

* * *

 **U.A Grounds - 18:10 p.m.**

* * *

Miyu was going home for the last time before her semester.

In front of the front porch of U.A, she waited for her parents to pick her up. The night wind breezed through her lipless teeth, and the cold of spring chilled her bones mildly.

Adachi had said that she was allowed to visit her home again before her semester starts in several months from then.

The skeleton girl shivered at the thought of going home. Honestly, she had already missed her new classmates (apart from someone like Jun or Date). It had been a few hours after her battle against Mr. Adachi, and it was terrifyingly exhausting; her muscles were aching in need of rest, her only clothes were ripped and tore just to fit her fighting style, and she didn't even have any spare pants left to hide her open thighs.

Holding onto a piece of her torn out clothes, she wondered how she'd explain it to her parents; or worse, her younger brothers.

"They're pretty late." Said a lone voice by her side. It was a tall man called Mr. Adachi, he was looking at his watch with a bit of concern. "Do you have any cell phone on you? Maybe you can call them."

Miyu immediately shook her head. "They'll be here."

"Alright, then," Adachi said, shrugging.

The atmosphere was somewhat awkward between the two. It's not every day where you fear-slash-admire the man beside you, according to Miyu's complication. However, Adachi was quite glad to be able to stand by her side. She _was_ his future student, of course.

That reminded both of them of something, something that they'll keep to each other until who-knows-when.

A stray light suddenly came to view as a car got into the grounds of U.A, and the both of them already had high hopes on who it was. The black color of that certain car suddenly hit a memory on the back of Miyu's head, after that it went and parked in one of the available spaces in the parking lot.

"It's them…" Miyu said to Adachi.

"I see," Adachi responded with a smile. He then landed his palm against her shaggy hair. "Safe travels, then, Miyu."

Miyu didn't have anything particular to say in return, the only thing she could think of was a simple thank you.

After bidding each other goodbyes, Miyu approached the black car. Her heart lodged in her throat as her fingers merely touched the doorknob.

"Hey, darlin'!" Said a voice as Miyu opened the back door to get inside; it was a big and burly man who seemed to be too large for the driver's seat.

"Hi," Miyu responded rather curtly. She quickly sat inside and closed the door, covering her opened skin unconsciously. The car then began driving out of the school.

"Look at you, dear!" Said a horrified voice from to copilot seat; a middle-aged woman wearing a ponytail on the back of her head. "What happened to your clothes? Your skirt? Oh, my…"

"I-I… look, it's not as bad as you think it is…" Miyu did have a lot to explain, after all. Speaking of which, how _would_ she explain this?

"Wow, sis." Said a squeaking voice from the far back of the family car. "Did you get into a fight again?"

"At your first day, too!" Another one piped in.

And, as if in sync, two little heads popped up behind Miyu. With a face similar to each other, and a resemblance close to that of their sister's, these two twins were the troublemakers of the family (other than Miyu herself).

"Ugh… don't stick your noses in other people's business!" Miyu snapped angrily.

"Miyu, dear, what in the world happened back then?" Her mother asked with worry.

"She was probably strip dancing for some girl." One of the twins said with a mischievous giggle.

Miyu had had it, the chains that kept her together had already been broken. "YOU BRATS!"

As chaos ensued in the back of the car, the burly man up front merely chuckled at the sight of his children. Turning left, at a certain corner, the man realized that the situation down back had already calmed down.

"So… how was today?" The man asked.

Miyu, looking up from the pair of boys that she was strangling between both her armpits, took a moment to answer. "It was good…"

"Did you made any friends?" He asked again.

This time, Miyu smiled a bit. "I guess…"

"How were the teachers?"

Miyu paled at that. "They're… not what I was expecting…"

Her father raised an eyebrow at that.

"I… I guess they're fine." She really didn't know what to say. "They're pretty strong."

"Did they like you?"

Miyu blinked. "… Maybe."

Then, the man up front took a glance at his wife. "See, honey? I told you it'll be fine." He said in a whispery tone.

The mother merely rolled her eyes. Then, the ponytailed woman hung her head. "In a few months, you'll become a hero, huh?"

Miyu subconsciously nodded at that. She looked out the window, wondering what the future will bring.

* * *

 **Teachers' Lounge, U.A - 18:15 p.m.**

* * *

""CHEERS!""

The sound of glass clinking against each other, champagne bottles hissing as they were opened, and laughing thrown about all across the small teachers' lounge on the second floor of the U.A high school.

There was the stench of alcohol in the air right now and it was a forbidden scene to behold. But Nedzu didn't care, he felt himself deserving of a reward.

Holding a small teacup filled half-full of old scotch. What could he say? He was distinguished.

"I never expected Nedzu to let us drink in the school of all places." Said the space-suited man 13, sucking off the drink from his glass with the holes in his fingers. "Tonight is certainly the best!"

"This is a special occasion, of course!" Nedzu said happily, the fur on his face getting redder. "I want to make the night as memorable as possible!"

"I wonder what happened with Endeavor, yo!" Said Hizashi Yamada, also known as Present Mic, as he held on to a jug of beer. "He just left after that super brawl in the stadium!"

"Maaaan! Why couldn't Adachi be here with us?" Whined Nemuri Kayama, the pro hero Midnight, as she was already looking just as drunk after downing an entire jug. "I was going to drunk him out until he'll spend a night at my place!"

"Don't. We live together." Aizawa said commandingly, sitting on the couch and not touching any of the available drinks. "Besides, Adachi is still watching the kids go. The semester isn't going to start until a few months have passed, you know."

Kayama shot the worn-out man a weird look. "Why aren't you drinking, Shota? I haven't seen you drinking since Rocklock's bachelor party!"

Aizawa only grumbled in return, slouching ever more lazily on the couch.

Then, everyone heard a knock on the teacher lounge's door; a silhouette of a messy-haired man could be seen on the window. When the door slid open, a skeletal looking person came into view.

"Sorry, I'm late everyone!" Said Yagi Toshinori, rubbing the back of his neck as he raised the bag of plastic in his hand. "I brought the take-outs."

Everyone then shouted together in joy. As Toshinori placed the food on the counter, everyone began picking up plates to hold the food.

"So, what did I miss?" The skinny man asked the principal, who was setting up the plates.

"Quite a lot, Yagi. Quite a lot." Nedzu simply said. "Where have you been, by the way?"

A picture of a curly-haired boy suddenly came to mind. "I've been at the Dagobah Municipal Beach all day. Training. You know?"

"Ah, I see," Nedzu responded as he finished filling the plates up with food.

"I assumed that the program went well?"

Nedzu nodded. "I guess it's safe to say that the ship has sailed. Now, the only thing that we need to worry, is how to keep it sailing." He then poured himself another cup of scotch before adding, "You know, Yagi. I can see future in our decisions, this program was born because of a democracy after all, and because of that I will do whatever I can to keep this going as long as I can."

"And… who was it? Hisaki?" Toshinori asked as he tapped his chin. "I heard we'll be seeing more of him soon."

"You can say he was the planner in all of this… that man certainly has ideas, and he'll need us to steer it in the right way. We all depend on each other, right?" Nedzu said. "Enough talking! Now that we're all here…"

The small mammal then climbed on top of the single chair at the width end of the table and shouted: "To a new beginning!"

Then, everyone followed suit. ""THE A NEW BEGINNING!""

* * *

 **H.R.I Dorms, U.A - 18:20 p.m.**

* * *

Walking down the cold steps of his dorm building, Seiji came into the light of the living room. Yet, he wasn't in his usual at-home clothes either, rather, he was dressed as if he was going somewhere.

With his wallet and phone already inside his pockets, Seiji began putting on his cargo jacket.

As he walked through his new home, he began approaching the front door, only to found someone else already on the porch outside.

"Kaori?" He called out. As the black haired girl looked back at him, Seiji realized that another individual was present as well. "Oh… evening, Mr. Adachi."

"Evening, Seiji." The lion-haired man returned politely. He seemed to have been talking to Kaori.

"Are you going home, Kaori?" Seiji said as he got out of the dorm building.

The girl nodded in return, she was wearing a coat to shield herself from the cold. "Are you?"

Seiji pursed his lips. "I was just on my way meeting someone at the train station, I'll be back here late."

"You're not going home?" Kaori said with a tone of concern.

Now that Seiji realized that most of the students here had scattered throughout the town to pack their things from their earlier homes, he wondered if Kaori had any home to go to.

"I was kicked out of my apartment not long ago," Seiji said with an awkward laugh. "How about you?"

When he asked this, Kaori glanced back at Adachi before he gave her an assuring nod. "I'll be gone for a couple of months. But I'll probably return when the semester starts."

"Oh." Seiji didn't actually know how to respond. But if he was honest with his feelings, he would say that he was disappointed. "Well, safe travels, then…"

"Thank you," Kaori said with a smile. Then, she returned the same smile to Adachi. "Good night, sir."

"Safe travels, Kaori," Adachi said, bidding her goodbye.

The man stood there with his newer, cleaner suit with Seiji by his side. When Kaori left the two of them, Adachi then turned to Seiji with a sigh.

"How was the room?" Adachi asked him.

Seiji had thought that this man would say something different. "Er… it was good. I guess?"

"No… I mean…" Adachi now seemed alert, "was the blanket warm enough, or was the mattress to thick? Was the room big enough? Is the conditioning to cold—"

"Sir, I'm fine!" Seiji said, almost as if taken aback by Adachi's sudden worries. "I really am! You don't have to ask me so often…"

"Okay… okay, sure." Adachi responded, as if hesitantly. "But… if you ever need something—"

"—don't afraid to ask. I _know_ , Mr. Adachi." Seiji finished for him, chuckling.

"Wow, kid." Adachi laughed, scratching the back of his neck in embarrassment. "You know me better than I do."

Seiji laughed back. "Yeah, well, you were kinda acting like my—"

A sudden sound from behind him took him by surprise. When Seiji spun around and looked into the insides of the living room, he saw someone he did not expect: Jun.

The short boy while dressed in sweatpants and plain shirt only stood there, glaring at them from the inside without saying a word. Both Seiji and Adachi wondered what he wanted from them. But not long after, Jun stomped away, growling as he did into the direction of the bathrooms.

Seiji didn't know why, but he felt like he was responsible for Jun's current state. Maybe it was because he got him forced into the program, somehow. Whatever it was, it made Seiji feel bad for him. He probably didn't have a home to go to, as well.

"Don't worry about him, Seiji," Adachi said with a reassuring smile, averting Seiji's attention. "You go to the train station if you want, I'll stay here and watch over the others."

"Ah… sure…" Seiji said with a bit of concern. With nothing else left to speak about, Seiji bid him goodbye as he went on his way.

Outside the school, Seiji was already walking towards the bus station across the U.A. gates. Nobody else was there and he didn't see any more cars driving on the school grounds.

With a long cough from the cold, Seiji took out a piece of paper from his back pocket; it was the same agreement paper that he marked on the day Adachi first came to him.

His other hand pulled out his phone, with a quick dial he began calling a certain someone.

When a voice came into his hearing, Seiji placed the phone near his ear. "Hi. It's me. Where are you?"

"Oh, that close? Well, I'm heading there right now."

"Yeah, sorry I didn't call you in the afternoon. I had… things…"

"What? No! Well… it's a bit complicated…"

"Look… I'll explain it the second we meet at the train station, okay?"

"… I missed you."

"Heh. Bye."

The line ended.

* * *

 **Just a little omake of the last chapter.**

 **It was supposed to be an apology in advance.**

 **Something like "I won't have time to write in a couple of days" Kind of thing.**

 **Thanks for last chapter's feedback, and about the fillers that I mentioned earlier: I guess if anyone wanted to write their own stories with the cast of MHA:DC, I suggest you PM your story or send me a copy of your story through Microsoft Outlook, to an account named thaliotp(you guys know the rest), and I guess I'll just see what you guys wrote and be a judge of that.**

 **And as I said in chapter 4, it will probably be edited, but for now, all I can do is fix my writing mistakes. Will see you guys in several days, perhaps.**

 **God help me.**

 **Bye.**

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

 **R &R**


	7. The Beginning of a Semester

**H.R.I. Dorms - 06:10 a.m.**

* * *

Waking up early in the morning certainly wasn't as bad as Seiji thought it would be, in fact, he felt twice more relaxed and energetic than he had ever remembered. His breath was soft and steady as his face was still positively stuck inside his pillow, his right hand clenched at the top hem of his thick yet comfortable blanket, and his lower body squirmed accordingly to his half-awakened brain.

As comfortable as he was in his current bed, he realized that he had to get up soon; he would be late for work if he didn't.

"Ungh…" Seiji moaned out as he tossed and turned on his bed. "But I don't wanna get the cans of soda from the back…"

A few seconds passed, no alarm bell could be heard from anywhere. As Seiji's consciousness slowly fades away to black, his sleepiness overcame him.

He felt tucked in nice and warm, even when his blanket was already sprawled out leaving half of his body exposed to the air. But that didn't matter, what mattered was him, his bed, and the pretty girl that was laying right beside him as he—

"YOU BITCH!"

With a quite pathetic moan, Seiji shot out of bed with a jolt.

"YOU USED MY TOOTHBRUSH DIDN'T YOU?!"

"I'M A GIRL, DUMBASS! WHY THE HELL WOULD I EVEN USE THAT BACK BRUSH YOU CALL A TOOTHBRUSH!"

"To be fair they are both the same color."

"SHUT IT KIRIKAGURE!"

Seiji was already grumbling after he woke up, not sure what he should do by then. He didn't want to get up, but faith had other plans for him; it had plans for him since he first slept in this building.

Yes, ever since after he chose his own room to sleep in, he had been regretting the fact that he decided to sleep next to the bathroom. Most morning, it was always like this: thundering footsteps, loud screaming, Kudou suddenly appearing in a different room from his own; it was a nightmare.

Maybe he could say that he was used to it. Besides, it certainly was better than his old apartment where his room was across the room of an old lady with seemingly dozens of cats. Every morning was practically a petting zoo in his last home.

Alas, he stayed for a reason, and he will hold on to that reason until he graduates and eventually becoming a hero.

"Aw fuck! My shampoo's gone!" Shouted the booming voice of Date. "It was you wasn't it?!"

"Sorry, that I don't use MEN'S SHAMPOO!" Mori shouted back; Seiji could only imagine the length of her fangs at this point.

"There's a high chance that you stole it!"

"For the last time. I AM A GIRL!"

"WOULD YOU TWO SHUT THE FUCK UP?!" Shouted a newer voice, this one erupted a strong tremor that shook the building to its core.

It was then that the loud shouting was finally stopped, there was mild bickering here and there but it was something. Seiji had to thank Jun for that, later.

As he got out of bed, Seiji stretched himself as a way to wake his morning droopiness. His room was nothing special: just furniture here and there including a wardrobe and a desk, jackets, clothes that were too clean to be put in the laundry on the hanger on the door, and several notebooks that he bought a few days earlier.

He approached the small desk at the corner of his room and looked into the small rectangular mirror that was placed on top of it. Looking at his reflection as he picked the mirror up, Seiji realized that his bed hair was worse than he thought, maybe that was because of his long hair that was used to be tied in as a small ponytail on the back of his head.

It was no use admiring his own messy hair. He put down the mirror and began walking towards the door. He stopped in front of a calendar that was stuck on his door, the day that was today had a red circle on it.

" _Oh, shit! I forgot!"_ Seiji had suddenly thought. _"Today is my first semester! Crap, what time is it?!"_

And with that, Seiji quickly went out the door.

The coast was somewhat clear, Seiji had thought. It was funny how a simple hallway could turn into a war zone if done right… or wrong depends on what context.

Maybe it was because he was practically living with homicidal maniacs under one roof, but he felt twice as panicky this morning.

"Good morning, Seiji Orimura." Said a feminine voice from behind him.

Seiji spun around until he was met with the sight of Mika Tetsuya, the girl with half of her body consisted to that of a robot. She was holding a white toothpaste that was still being held in her hand. Seiji stared at her like he had just seen a ghost, perhaps it was because Mika was as quiet as one.

"Is there something wrong?" She said with a raise of her eyebrow.

Seiji let out a breath of relief realizing that it was only her. "Yeah… no… sorry, I was just… what time it is, again?"

"It is currently a quarter past six," Mika said nonchalantly. "I suggest that you should 'take it easy', or so they speak. The first period doesn't start until nine o'clock."

As Mika walked away, Seiji was left with a puzzled feeling. He could remember properly that high schools weren't supposed to start their first period that late, even when there was something like an orientation, nine o'clock was far too late.

"Wait, hold on, why at nine?" Seiji asked her, just in time before she leaves towards the female dorms.

"Haven't you heard?" Mika asked him back. "Apparently, the school had planned to introduce the class to the entire school."

"Introduce ourselves…" Seiji mumbled in incredulity, "to the whole school…"

Maybe she was just joking around, there was no way in hell that they would…

" _Fuck!"_ Seiji cursed internally. _"I just remembered that we're not an official class!"_

Of course, Adachi or the principal would've come up with that, now Seiji had to dress himself up for the big occasion. It was his habit to present himself when he is most presentable, and of course, due to his bed hair, he was at his worst.

Damn, then he had the trouble of cleaning himself up again. It was hard to do that already while living with several other kids, now he had to share with delinquents as well.

He would like to question Adachi, honestly. This was just too sudden, and he didn't even have any time to mentally prepare himself for it.

Maybe he'll refresh his mind after a cool shower.

"You've been in there for ten minutes!"

"I was taking a shit!"

"WHO SHITS FOR TEN MINUTES?!"

Seiji had to stop himself from finding a rope and tying himself a little noose around his neck.

...

It wasn't long after a warm shower, still somewhat humid and warm from the temperature, Seiji decided to go back to his room and find his phone. With a white towel wrapped around his neck, he began searching on top of his bed and under his blanket.

For now, the state of his room wasn't as important as how a certain someone had promised to call him this morning. When he did find his phone, hidden under his bed pillow, it already had one missed call from a number that was already added to his contact list.

It was probably wasn't a good idea to stay in his damp room without any of the windows cracked open. After all, he just got out of the shower. He quickly changed his clothes, tied his long hair into a ponytail, and literally snatched his phone out of nobody's grasp.

With one of his hand holding his phone, the other reached for the small metal that would keep ahold of the window as it stays open. He was already dialing someone back, and thus, while waiting for the other line to accept his call, he decided to take a little stroll around the building.

"Oh? Hi! Good morning!" Seiji said as he answered the other person on the line. With a simple plain t-shirt and short pants, he made his way through the male dorms. "Sorry I couldn't answer your call earlier, I was in the shower."

There was a slight bickering from the other line. "What? Of course, I shower, what are you talking about?" Seiji responded with incredulity.

The boy then suddenly came in front of a room door, with curiosity, he glanced inside the dark room as he passed in front of it. What he saw was a figure of someone sleeping on their bed, almost looking like their limbs were bent the wrong way, only to realize that it was none other than Tarasu Kobayashi.

Seiji already knew how very lazy the boy inside could be, and saying that was an understatement. He had seen it: Tarasu could practically sleep anywhere, even in the place that wasn't supposed to be possible to sleep in.

Without any intention to wake him up, and the unsureness of whether or not waking him up from his slumber was possible, Seiji walked away from the door.

"What?" Seiji didn't quite catch the words that the other person on the line just said, "Oh, sorry, it was nothing

Meanwhile, as he continued strolling around the hallway, he ended up stopping at a door that was reeking of smoke. Not only that, he could even see the thin white ooze creeping out from below the door. He had a pretty good idea whose room that was and not long after that, the doorknob twisted and turned.

"Oh! Orimura." Said the tall boy Oboro Kirikagure, his face as expressionless as ever after he got out of his room already wearing a clean white shirt. "Going downstairs?"

"Yeah." Seiji nodded. Then, he scanned the taller boy up and down, "You look nice."

"I always look like this," Oboro said, emotionless.

"… Maybe you should try combing your hair." Seiji suggested, unsure of what else to add. "I'm going downstairs."

Oboro didn't move an inch. "Right. Bye."

The taller boy was somewhat of a basket case if Seiji had to be honest, but he'll look no deeper into it. After they parted ways, Seiji made his way towards the stairs and began talking on his cell phone again. "By the way, are you still in college?"

After a quick reply from the receiver, Seiji began scratching the back of his head as he walked down the stairs. "I didn't mean it like that. I was… worried that I might be interfering your lessons." He said to the receiver.

Seiji then stopped midway down the steps, his face flushed. "Oh. So _I'm_ the worrywart now?"

After a quick sigh, and a response from the other line, Seiji continued going on his way. "Whatever… I was just calling to ask why you called me in the first place, anyway."

When he arrived at the first floor, he expected the living room to be as horrible as it was living with a bunch of delinquents. He wasn't wrong, but he wished he was. The living room was a mess, with everyone present in it not even caring about the randomly placed trash all over the place.

The sight made him sad.

No, not because it was practically unfitting to live in.

But because he was _used_ _to it_.

He saw Yato Shimura in one of the sofas, still busily minding his own business as his eyes were practically glued to the small screen of his smartphone. Kudou Satou was also there, painting… on the floor with his hands. At the far corner of the room were Suki Takara and Date Takehiro, and as the girl was trying to read a book, Date was seemingly trying to get uncomfortably closer into her personal space (Seiji didn't want to stick around to see what hallucination Suki was planning to throw at him).

A sudden voice from his cell phone brought him out of his musings. "What? Oh. Well…" Seiji made a brief check at the digital clock on his phone, "I think about half an hour from now. Now that I think about it, I haven't had breakfast…"

When walking towards the kitchen while avoiding any plastic bottles scattered everywhere, Seiji listened closely to his receiver's response. "A couple boxes of cereal… some instant ramen… what? Last night? I think I had Chinese food last night, why?"

As he got into the kitchen, Seiji snorted loudly at what the other person said. "Yeah… like you haven't eaten junk food all this time…" Seiji then squished his phone between his ear and shoulder as he went and boil himself some hot water, "Look, I'm fine where I am. There's cafeterias and other stuff here, I was going to look for another part-time job anyway."

After that, Seiji went into one of the cupboards and opened it. _"Ugh… only two cup-ramen left, I could've sworn that there was a dozen in here just last week. Typical roommates…"_ He thought begrudgingly.

He settled with what he had and went to the dining table with his instant ramen waiting to be done. Seiji then began talking to his receiver again, "Yeah, that's right… No, nothing happened to my uniform yet… Of course, I'm on my fricking edge, it's my first day."

He wasn't lying, of course. Most of the time, people always rejected him for what he can do. And now, he needed to prove himself acceptable in front of several hundred students.

Seiji's brain stopped thinking for a moment after he heard what the other person said. "Aww… you're wishing me good luck," He said with a chuckle, "that never happened before."

But, even though the idea of introducing himself is nerve wrecking, he suddenly felt at ease.

"Alright, bye. I'll call you later, okay?"

And with that, Seiji began eating his ramen in silence while at the same trying to remember where the hell he had placed his tie.

* * *

 **U.A. Auditorium - 08:30 a.m.**

* * *

Fix tie.

Fix hair.

Practice speech.

Check watch.

Repeat.

Mr. Adachi wasn't having the time of his life right now. Maybe he was overthinking it, but he felt like if he failed this then he has failed his entire life. With a quick gulp, Adachi fixed his tie again; his hand was already numb at the touch of its cloth.

He was standing next to the stage, just behind the curled up curtains and outside the view of every student in this school. He peeked his head just a bit from the curtains. He then saw Principal Nedzu, standing on a two-step ladder behind the podium, almost finishing his welcoming speech for the first years to the whole entire school.

And apparently, the school had already switched the old chairs to the new ones. Well… considering what had happened months prior, why wouldn't they?

Adachi pulled his head back and began checking his watch again.

" _Just a few minutes left…"_ Adachi thought while he pursed his lips. _"I really hope the class is ready by now…"_

Happy thoughts, Adachi tried to convince himself. Maybe if he lies to himself, saying that the class he was responsible with wasn't filled with homicidal delinquents, he could actually make a breakthrough in his speech and end his creeping anxiety.

Hell… he would've bet that being in a war was much more calming than being here. He wasn't used to standing in front of a crowd, he couldn't even remember himself being in a school play.

Suddenly, a voice invaded his mind. "Mr. Adachi… sir?"

Adachi stammered, looking past his back and found himself staring at a dirty-blonde haired woman with a bob-cut, holding onto a clipboard with a U.A. insignia on its back.

The taller man blinked before cracking up a smile. "Ah. Madam Secretary!"

"The Principal should be finishing his orientation in a few minutes, I hope your class is ready by then." The woman said with cold eyes staring at him from behind her square, rimless-bottomed glasses.

Adachi's eyes stared down, his head hung low, even his perfect suit cannot hide away the troubles in his eyes. His very soul seemed to be fleeting out of his body.

But the woman before him merely smiled at the man. "You'll be fine. Principal Nedzu wouldn't be doing all this trouble for nothing, which means that the whole school has your back."

"Y-you think so, ma'am?" Adachi said, his eyes brightened as he looked up.

"Akane is fine, Mr. Adachi." The secretary woman said, holding her clipboard closer to her chest.

Adachi cocked his eyebrow. "It's fine for me to call you by your first name?"

"We've known each other long enough…" Akane said as her face reddens. With her fingers, she took a piece of her hair and placed it behind her ear. "J-just don't make a fuss about it in front of the staff…"

Not far from the two of them, someone was watching with a huge amount of incredulity filling his eyes. "Now that's what I call gross…" Said the tall boy Oboro with a poker face.

He had already gathered with the rest of his class, while at the same time keeping his distance from the rest. In truth, the only person he was alright with standing next to was Seiji.

Meanwhile, Seiji himself was already fitting in with the rest of the class, talking to both Mika and Mori they chatted about their impatience for their first period.

Date was also present, but he wasn't doing much except constantly trying to fit his uniform on his bulky body.

Suki was somewhere on the backstage, she was secluding herself much like Yato who was still (unsurprisingly) playing on his phone.

Jun was also present, he was the farthest away from the group, and his eyes were also set on the stage much like Adachi.

Kudou was somewhere else (either invisible, out of sight, or too fast to detect), but he'll turn up, he always did.

"Good grief…" A newer voice stepped in, it was then showed that it belonged to the lazy-looking boy Tarasu. "What's up with the get-together? Did something good happen?"

As the boy walked up towards them with his scruffy-looking hair still untouched by a comb, he was already fitted into his own U.A. uniform, though his tie was still untied and hanging by his neck. With his back hunched, Tarasu looked around him were several shocked faces were staring at him.

"Holy shit…" Gasped the voice of Mori. "He actually woke up!"

"This can't be real!" Seiji said with a chuckle.

"The end of the world is upon us, it seems." Oboro sarcastically said.

"Oy, you startin' a fight?!" Tarasu said bitterly as he glared at them.

The boy was always the washed-up member of the class, but anyone would be entirely shocked when they see someone who practically spent ninety percent of their day in their room to be actually awake for more than ten minutes. In Tarasu's case, nobody had ever seen him take more than ten steps outside of his dorm, not even when he came down for dinner. When he did come down, however, he'll always go back up to his room and never stayed outside of it for more than three minutes.

He could match even Kudou Satou at this rate, and the latter was practically a house-haunting ghost.

"I guess that makes all of us…" Seiji said to the rest of his group. But then he remembered something crucial. _"Ah, wait! There's still two more…"_

And, as if he was speaking of the devil, both Kaori and Miyu had just appeared just from outside of the backstage. The both of them had already worn their uniforms, and their clothes seemed to be showing their feminine figures finely.

"Sorry, we're late." Kaori instantly said as she approached Seiji.

"Did you two just arrived?" Seiji asked, double checking.

Both Miyu and Kaori nodded, as Miyu was met with Mori, Kaori continued her conversation with Seiji. "I didn't think that there was a special occasion."

"Yeah, I know, right?" Seiji said in agreement, pulling at his collar as a sign of overheating. "I was just told about it this morning!"

"If I would've known about it, I'd try cleaning myself up a bit more..." Kaori commented, twirling at her split bangs in front of her ear.

"Why? You look fine just as you are."

That reply was too sudden for Kaori, just like how any compliment from a boy her age was far too sudden. "… Thank you…" She said with a light cough, hiding her face from Seiji.

Seiji seemed to be oblivious to her sudden embarrassment. "At least you didn't have to find one tie for fifteen minutes, right?" He said with a grin.

"I-I guess?" Kaori responded, unsure of what to say.

Not far from them, someone else was listening closely, and could easily feel the rising tension between the two teenagers from before. With an angry cross of his arms and a quick huff from his mouth, Jun stared at the two from afar while he leaned back towards a wall. The small boy made no notable gestures, his drilling gaze was the only thing that was frightening about him even though only one of his eye was visible.

His gaze was quickly averted when someone else came into his field of vision. Adachi seemed to have thought that Nedzu was close to finishing his welcoming speech, meaning that it was time to check the class for absentees.

"Alright, everyone! It's time gather up! Oh? I see you two have arrived!" Adachi said once he noticed both Miyu and Kaori. Without wasting any time, Adachi then continued, "Alright then, is there still anybody missing?"

"I think Kobayashi's missing his bed," Mori said out loud, earning a couple of held-back laughter and giggles.

But before Tarasu could counter back, Adachi had already hushed all of them up. "That's enough, everyone. We only have a couple of minutes left until the Principal calls us to the stage!" Adachi then scanned the class from left to right, "Where's Kudou?" He asked towards the newcomers Yato and Suki.

"Hell if I know…" Suki said with her arms crossed.

"I think he was at—" Yato's words were cut off when he seemed to have noticed something behind Adachi, "Nevermind, he's here now."

Adachi cocked his eyebrow in confusion when he looked past his shoulder, he almost jumped back in surprise. He met eye to eye with the blue-haired boy who was hanging upside down by a rope, a toothy grin still plastered on his face.

Adachi pulled his head back away from Kudou's face, it was an instinctive movement. "What are you doing there?" He finally said when his brain finished rewiring. "Get down here this instant!"

"Are you suuuure?" Kudou said with a smile, his body begun to spin as he was still holding on to that one piece of rope. "If I let go of this rope, it'll cause a chain reaction in which—"

"Look," Adachi suddenly snapped, his hand reached out and grabbed the end of the rope that Kudou was holding on to, "we don't have enough time for this! Kudou, can you promise me to act your age for just a day?"

Kudou looked thoughtful, he began swinging back and forth slowly. "Adachi-sensei just wouldn't play with Lil ol' Kudou…" He pouted. "I'm booooored…"

"I _really_ don't have time for this…" Adachi grumbled, pulling Kudou off of the rope without any effort.

As Adachi dropped Kudou on the floor, his other hand was still holding on to that piece of rope. Everyone was now in place, or so it seemed.

"Okay, then…" Adachi then said, ignoring Kudou's sulking. "Now that's one… two… three… eleven people? But who are we—"

"Sir." Said the voice of Mika as she pulled at his sleeve. She then proceeded to point in a certain direction, in which there was a sight of Jun Hamada walking towards the exit of the backstage.

Adachi seemed less than pleased, but instead of fury, disappointment filled his eyes. He began to run after Jun without another word, and the rest of the class wasn't that keen on seeing what conversation they would have.

Not even five seconds after, Akane the school secretary approached them from the other side. "Is your class ready?" She asked the person she was close to, namely Seiji.

"Er… Most of us are…" Seiji said in a hesitated manner, she scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

"Your cue just started. I suggest all of you start heading towards the stage." Akane said sternly. Behind her glasses, she stared at the whole class with a slight concern. "And… try not to fight on the stage, you hear? The school can't handle any more _shenanigans_ from you…"

As she strode away, her heels tapping as she walked, Seiji was left with a massive weight of doubt filling his core. He looked towards the class as if he was desperately awaiting instructions.

And then, without any warning, a booming voice suddenly exploded in their ears: "NOW LET US WELCOME OUR NEW CLASS!"

" _That must be the Principal…"_ Seiji thought, exchanging glances with Kaori.

"There's not much else we can do," Kaori said, she was having the same stage fright as everyone else.

Everyone else nodded in agreement. They might need more than a statement of fact to persuade them to come up towards the stage, though.

"Alright then," Seiji finally decided, his heart hammering against his ribcage, "let's face the world… I guess…"

The ponytailed boy took the first step away from the group, Kaori was the second one who was sure enough to follow him, and the rest got into a line as they all walked towards the open curtains.

Once Seiji had his whole body outside of the darkness, he was met with a lot of blurry figures at the corner of his eye. His head just wouldn't turn to face the crowd, his body was as stiff as a board, and his legs were moving on their own.

" _Just take this easy…"_ Seiji kept telling himself, _"Just keep looking at the ground while you walk towards the end… and then you stop… and you face them…"_

He was practically close enough to the other end of the stage, it was then that Seiji stopped at his tracks and turned his body until he was facing the whole entire school.

The sight was breathtaking, Seiji would be lying if he had said otherwise.

Perhaps it was because Seiji had been skipping a lot of schools to notice this, but U.A. had a massive amount of students in it. They were sectioned, too: there was Class A to B of the Hero Course, Class C to E of the General Educations, Class F to H of the Supports Department, and Class J to K of the Management.

The atmosphere was quiet, save for a few murmurs and whispers all across the ocean of students. Looking around, Seiji was surprised to see how unique every student was; there were multi-colored hairs on animal-like bodies, and each of them had their own shape and sizes.

Sure, the auditorium was big, but he could've sworn that it wouldn't hold these much people the last time Seiji was here.

The boy took a quick glance around him, particularly at his own class. It seemed like Adachi had already coming out of the backstage and onto the podium, and not only that, the brunette Jun Hamada had settled himself on the other end of the class.

"Well, then," Adachi said in front of the small microphone, clearing his throat, "good morning children! It was a pleasure to be with you all today."

His voice boomed out of the speakers, and the whole school was silent for the entire moment.

"Without further ado, let us begin introducing ourselves!" Adachi continued. "My name is Hisaki Adachi, I am the future homeroom teacher of the H.R.I. Class. You might be asking what the H.R.I. Class is actually about. You might be asking who these children in front of you are. And let me tell you: they are no different from any of you present.

"Yes, they are a newer addition to the school, and yes, they are treated differently in terms of education. But other than that, they are no more than regular students enrolling a prestigious school called U.A.

"And then, H.R.I. stands for Heroics Reforming Initiative. What is that, you might ask? It is a program… a social program, to be precise. Where we take the bad seed in society and refine them into nothing other than heroes. A _reformation program_.

"You may find that statement odd, nerve-wracking. You might think that the school has finally gone to the dogs, what do they think they can gain from such program? The answer is easy: hope.

"From the day you are born into this world, you aren't given a choice for what you wanted to do for the rest of your life. You might find yourself finally enrolling in the high school you've always been dreaming of, or you might end up in a different high school, somewhere not as good but enough for your future, or you might find yourself in the dark, lost and afraid, with nothing but the thought of surviving in this harsh world. You became a villain.

"Those were the old days, where our nation's children were always expected to be one of these two things: successful and unsuccessful. But the problem was, can anyone unsuccessful find their way towards their success? My friends… H.R.I. is not a program… it is a dream…

"A goal in which we have envisioned a brighter future for Japan, in which prosperity and peace in a society is something that we can grasp without any need to be hesitant. Because society starts with people, and people start from children.

"I don't ask much from all of you but to get along, they aren't here to interfere with your daily school lives, but they are here to do just as same as all of you. We don't grow bonds just because we were family, because friends, _the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb_ …"

At that last line, Seiji could've sworn he saw Adachi had briefly glanced at the palm of his hand behind the podium before facing the crowd with a grin. The wits this man had…

Other than that, the students seemed to be either too interested in the speech, or too disinterested the moment Adachi had begun talking about Heroics Reformation Initiative.

"That shall be the end of my speech. I have high hopes in all of you, and I shall do my best to make our class to be just as good as everyone else's. We hope we all get along. Let us thank you all for listening." Then, Adachi did the unthinkable: he turned to the class with a smile while expecting them to bow down to the crowd. "Class?" He said with hopeful eyes.

Like a high shrieked explosion, the voice of Kudou Satou suddenly broke the silence. "I AM KUDOU SATOU, ARTISTE AND GENIUS! WE ARE THE H.R.I. CLASS OF U.A, AND MAY WE ALL GET ALONG WELL FROM THIS DAY ONWARDS!"

He ended his beautiful message with a bow. Everyone was silent, Adachi was wide-eyed, and the entire class had stared at Kudou as if he had just committed murder.

Laughter broke out, and not even a second later, the whole auditorium was exploding with uncontrollable fits.

"YOU IDIOT!" Date barked at Kudou, lifting him by the collar. "WHAT THE HELL WAS YOU THINKING?!"

"What's wrong?" Kudou said, tilting his head. "They all love me!"

As the laughter went on and there weren't any signs of it stopping, Seiji had already surrendered himself to the lord, Mika was probably the most confused out of the bunch, Kaori was hiding her face in exasperation, Oboro had seemingly died standing up, and Mori's two canine ears had already fallen to its sides, indicating a sign of distress.

And out of nowhere, the ground began to shake violently. The walls were crumbling, the floor was tremoring, and people were shrieking in panic and distress, quickly erasing any trace of laughter on their lips.

The earthquake stopped abruptly, and everyone was dead silent. With the air seemed to be filled with tiny specks of dust, Jun was standing incredibly still with his gaze lowered and locked forward towards the crowd.

"Um…" Adachi then began amidst the fear and confusion, "that'll be all from us. Thank you for listening, and goodbye."

He himself bowed down before he ushered the kids out of the stage, including the still-laughing Kudou who seemed to be quite fond of having himself his own audience.

As Adachi was already on his way to the dressing room, incredibly exhausted and clinically depressed, a familiar face greeted him from beside the door.

"That was a nice speech," Akane said with a foxlike smile, " _Kennedy_ …"

"Shut up…" Adachi grumbled. He didn't mean it, though.

The secretary walked away from the dressing room with a light giggle.

* * *

 **H.R.I. Classroom - 09:15 a.m.**

* * *

Not even an hour later, the H.R.I. Class was already fitted into their class.

There were twelve exact desks in the class, each was strikingly similar to one another with a space under it available for all of their stationaries. The seating was four rows divided by three columns, but regardless of the seating, the class will always be a hell-hole for outsiders.

Not even in class there was silence, Date and Jun had just found the perfect place spit poison on each other as they are seated practically next to each other due to the fact that they were the last ones to class (which was their fault considering how they took an entire hallway trip filled with mouthful of arguments).

With the fact that Oboro was still spewing smoke everywhere, Yato seemingly about to snap with the lack of his mobile phone, and Mika sitting just in front of Date and Jun with the limit of her patience currently unknown, Kaori was probably the least worrisome. Seiji on the other hand...

Perhaps it was because of Seiji's Quirk, mixed with his constant bad luck that made nobody except for his closest companions to sit beside him. This wasn't even close to what Seiji thought of being a bad day; he had tripped twice in the hallway alone, even though he had thought that this was going to be his biggest and most anticipated day.

How naïve he was, there was no way the universe would've let him go this easy.

"If this class isn't silent in two seconds," Adachi proclaimed as he stomped angrily into class, "I will come up there and personally punish you all…"

And just like that, the bickering stopped. Seiji could've sworn he could still hear Jun's growl from behind him. Not long after that, Adachi settled himself just in front of the teacher's desk. This time, he wasn't wearing his usual suit anymore and a pair of black suspenders were then seen outside of his white shirt.

"Alright, then… after ignoring what had happened back then at the orientation, we should get down to business. We don't have much time left." Mr. Adachi said nonchalantly as he checked his watch. He then pulled a small folded paper and unfolded it before he began to read it. "First up: I'm going to make sure that you all are accustomed well enough to the school. Your period lessons information should be on your dorm calendars. The first period starts at seven, lunch starts at twelve, and the fourth period begins again at one."

"But that's like… an hour of lunch break!" Mori shouted in disbelief.

"Yes, and you deserve it. We are a special class unlike anywhere else." Adachi then ignored her grumblings before he began to read of the second line of his paper. "Second: you all have been given a student ID, that's a small metallic-colored plastic card that should grant your permission to re-enter the school should you have any business outside of it. DO NOT LOSE IT, do you understand me?"

The class nodded altogether, bringing a simple sigh of satisfaction from Mr. Adachi.

"Third: since this is a school, and you are all in a class, it should be mandatory that…" The man sighed before rubbing the bridge of his nose, bracing himself for the impending chaos, "… we all have an election for a class rep."

And just like that, the class exploded with shouts of wrath and anger. It was like a switch that can turn the worst in people to burst out simultaneously, making the atmosphere close to that of a war zone or a place of carnage.

"HELL YEAH!" Date barked out as he flexed his beefy arms in the air. "STEP ASIDE LOSERS!"

"Surely a position of power requires an individual of exceptional properties." Mika piped in, her voice monotone yet reassuringly boastful.

"Back off, Trainwreck! I'm getting that spot!" Mori woofed furiously at Date.

"Ooh! Ooh! Pick me! Pick me!" Kudou said enthusiastically, jumping up and down on his seat.

"You idiots can't even pass the qualification to be an underling!" Jun remarked with a slight 'tch!'

""Meh… too much work…"" Yato, Tarasu, and Oboro said altogether.

Seiji felt himself slowly being swallowed into his seat, the position of power sure is tempting, but how could he control a class full of the most disordered people? At this point, backing away from the petition seemed like a better idea, maybe he could choose for Kaori instead, that was a better option without a doubt.

Not long after Seiji was out of his thinking space, he felt a light poke at his shoulder. Beside him was Kaori, there was something about her small smile that made him calm.

"Why don't you take the chance?" She asked him.

Seiji blinked twice, unsure of what to say. "How could I even do that?"

"I don't know," Kaori said with a shrug, "you'll surprise yourself."

"Alright, class!" Adachi raised his voice loud enough for everyone to hear it. "Now… I don't want any more fuss about this, you hear?! Voting will be done silently, and if I hear any noise and it's out you go from the class rep candidates!"

And just like that, the whole class went into a nerve-wracking silence. The tension was so thick you can even cut it with a knife. That being said, Seiji's not sure that even a knife is enough.

As Adachi began handing out little pieces of paper, each came from the same paper that Adachi had used to scribble down his notes which was then torn up evenly into twelve pieces, the students immediately reached for their stationaries.

Seiji's pencil came from a cheap stationary set, he didn't have a pencil case and he feared that he might need to buy the same item once this one ran out. With the small piece of paper in front of him, he went deep into his thoughts, asking the same question over and over again: who would be the right candidate?

Kaori would be the obvious choice but… he didn't want her or anyone else to get the wrong idea. Should he pick Mori? No. There are people who were less reckless. Considering his close relationship with Adachi… Jun should be a good option.

" _Okay, that last one was a bad joke…"_ Seiji thought bitterly to himself. _"Come on… there must be someone I can choose!"_

Meanwhile, in front of the class, Adachi was quietly watching over the children like a hawk, making sure that none of them uses their Quirks to gain any upper hands. When he checked his watch, he realized that time was running out, "Alright, let's cut this short. Anyone who's done can come forward with your papers folded, the rest can have thirty seconds left."

Seiji's head shot up in shock, and before he knew it, several other classmates of his had already finished their votes. Kaori had even managed to make up her mind and choose someone, she gave Seiji a quick glance before going back to her seat.

The boy beside her had only a few seconds left to choose, and therefore, he began writing a name just seconds before Adachi had finished the thirty seconds mark.

"Got your pick, Seiji?" Adachi asked him as Seiji went forward to place his vote.

"I guess…" Seiji said with hesitation before he went back to his seat.

Adachi glanced at the pile of little-folded papers at his desk before he went towards the whiteboard and grabbed a marker, with the said marker in hand he began writing down names until the total comes up to twelve people.

With the names now written, Adachi began reaching onto the pile of folded papers and read aloud the first name that was on it.

"First vote: Date Takehiro."

"Second vote: Seiji Orimura."

"Third vote…" Adachi seemed to have difficulty in reading his third paper, "Kudou, is this your paper?" he asked as he showed the class the paper which was filled with messy colors and illegible words that seemed to have been written with a crayon.

"Yes, sir!" Kudou said as he did a salute with his color-coated hand. "I wrote myself in that paper, sir!"

Adachi merely shrugged him off before going back to the polls. "Alright then, third vote: Kudou Satou."

"Fourth vote: Mori Kururugi."

"Fifth vote: Seiji Orimura."

Seiji's head perked up at the second mention of his name, unsure if he had just heard right.

"Sixth vote: Seiji Orimura."

There it was, his name again.

"Seventh vote: Mori Kururugi."

"Alright!" Mori blurted out joyfully, she then gave her neighboring seat Miyu Yakushi a thumbs up. "Thanks, babe!"

"Eighth vote: Seiji Orimura."

"Ninth vote: Kaori Tsukinose."

"And the last vote: Mika Tatsuya." Adachi proceeded to scratch his head in confusion. "That can't be right. Who didn't vote earlier?"

It was obvious that Tarasu didn't vote, he was sleeping ever so soundly on his desk. The boy then surprisingly glanced up from his nap before taking a sleepy look around the class before going back to sleep again.

In short, nobody raised their hands, everyone seemed to have voted for someone.

Adachi sighed. "Welp… let's just get on with it shall we?" He then turned towards the whiteboard and began circling out names, "That makes Seiji as our class rep with four votes, and Mori as vice president with two votes. Can the two candidates step forward?"

Seiji was shaking as he made his way out of his desk and onto the front of the class, although Mori was seemingly acting very pleased with getting herself the second place.

The two stood side by side, and Seiji was still trying to figure out who had just voted for him.

"Say hello, children." Adachi urged the two of them.

"H-Hi…" Said Seiji.

"Hello." Mori chirped.

The class immediately exploded into outrage.

"BOO!"

"SEIJI, YOU SUCK!"

Adachi brought down his hand onto Seiji's stiff shoulder and said aloud, "From this day on, these two shall be your class rep and vice class rep for the semester. They will uphold the highest power of the class when I'm not around, and they both have the authority to pass their power should one of them aren't fit to hold it in the first place."

Kaori was the first one to give a clap, smiling at Seiji as she did. Then, the future class rep realized that some of his classmates including Oboro, Yato, and Suki were looking at him with two of the three giving him a reassuring thumbs up.

The homeroom teacher then told the two of them to go back to their seats before he went on to the last business he had to share with the class.

"Alright then, class. As you all know, since this is your first day, your first period isn't going to be something like academics." Adachi said before he went on. "Until you've graduated, your powers and abilities will be made into data. That being said, your talents and educational prowess will also be kept track on. This is to make sure that improvements and developments take place in the time you all study here."

Adachi resumed on checking his watch. "Now, firstly, we're going to monitor your Quirks. If you all would kindly greet Class 1-A's homeroom teacher here…"

And, as if on cue, the classroom door slid open and a man lazily walked into the room. He was almost as tall as Adachi, with the exception of the shoulder-lengthier hair and uncleaned looks. This man dressed in an all-black clothes, with a long scarf sitting on his neck.

"Shota Aizawa, or better known as the Pro Hero Eraserhead." Adachi revealed to the class.

"Oh my god," Mori gasped, "he looks like Kobayashi!"

"He's so strikingly similar," Oboro commented. "I wonder if they're father and son."

"If there are no more interruptions…" Aizawa said aloud as he silenced the class at once, "We will begin your Quirk Apprehension Tests immediately. Waste no time, all of you hurry down to the training grounds."

As the students began to leave the class one by one, Aizawa called out to them from inside the room. "And don't forget to change to your P.E. uniforms!"

"I'll leave them in your care, Mr. Aizawa." Adachi told the man as all of his students disappeared from sight, he had high hopes in his tone.

Aizawa merely looked at him silently under his long bangs. "Yeah, well, someone's gotta do the dirty work, right? And don't call me Mr. Aizawa… makes me feel old…"

"I see…" Adachi said under his breath before sighing. "I guess, I'll be going now. I have high hopes for all of them, make sure you teach them well."

"Say… Adachi…" Aizawa called him before Adachi could leave the room. The man in question was already looking at him in curiosity as to why he called him in the first place.

Aizawa merely stared blankly at him. "Nevermind."

The lazy-looking man shrugged him off before going on his way first and walking past a confused looking Mr. Adachi. Across the school, the first period went on smoothly, and everyone was looking forward to the rest of their years in U.A.

* * *

 **Did you all have a nice holiday?**

 **Yes? No?**

 **Okay then.**

 **Well, I would be lying if I had said that I didn't enjoy my holiday. Just less than two more days and the new year starts! That being said, I will still be on holiday for a couple more day which means that I'll still have time writing. Sorry, this wasn't a holiday special, though. I had already written this one and thought that writing a little seasonal special was too much work (maybe next year though).**

 **That'll be all. If you'll excuse me I need to go back opening presents. If any of you have anything to ask, please.**

 **I wish you all good health for the rest of the year (there's like... only two days left...)**

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

 **Quirk Apprehension tests are the worst! Isn't that right, Seiji?**

 **Adachi has bigger plans for the H.R.I. Class? What can that be?**

 **The misadventures of the delinquents class continue on the next chapter! Will we see more action? Will we see some fanservice? I DON'T KNOW!**

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

 **R &R**


	8. Quirk Apprehension Tests

**U.A. P.E. Grounds - 09:35 a.m.**

* * *

The sun was shining ever brighter in the afternoon, there was little to no winds present in the air and any traces of last spring's fallen cherry blossom leaves had been removed entirely. The sun glimmered above the U.A. buildings where the blue windows revealed the eye of the day and the blue horizon that stretched seemingly infinitely.

The U.A. grounds were in fact one of the largest built modern historical buildings in Japan, therefore, the scenery should've been surprisingly massive: not only did it managed to hold several different buildings including dorm buildings, the main school building, humongous sized P.E. grounds, and the Sports Festival Stadium, it was also holding onto a number of large grounds mainly used for simulating real-life events in a fake environment like the Unforeseen Simulation Joint where simulations of disasters like avalanches, whirlpools, and many others, had already taken up an unbelievably large amount of place in U.A. itself.

Mr. Adachi had said it himself, of course: "it's not prestigious if it wasn't eye catching in the first place." And, obviously, many that heard it had their mouths opened ajar and thought that that was the misunderstanding of the whole millennium.

Not in the wildest dreams Seiji would've pictured himself in such situations: practicing saving civilians under the circumstance of a landslide zone, learning advanced heroics from an internationally known pro hero, or even managing to get himself involved in a thousand-yen event that was the Sports Festival.

But everything must come in a slow yet progressive pace, and on that day, Seiji and his class were starting their first training as heroes as they went and figure out every breakable limits and unknown capabilities that their Quirks had.

They followed the man with the looks and the appearance similar to that of a homeless person who had just managed himself to get cold in the middle of the scorching heat that was the weather. The P.E. grounds, the place where the class was currently heading, was at the very least near where they currently were: a large dim lit hallway where on the end of it was a fork of a road with a sign that described two little humanoid figures resembling a male and a female.

"A bathroom?" Someone spoke up with an obvious confusion in their tone, Tarasu took a step forward from the group with his back still arched forward in an uncomfortable manner.

"It's the changing rooms." Said Aizawa dully. The washed up man merely stared at the group with his dead eyes before he grumbled away, walking past the class in a can't-be-bothered manner. "I'll go wait in the P.E. grounds, make sure you all lock your lockers on the way out. Oh, and don't take too long, I might leave."

The man walked away and went out of sight on the first corner, and the class was left with a bitter feeling on their tongues as they began scrambling for their next instructions.

"Well? Shouldn't we get changed?" Seiji said rhetorically.

"I didn't bring my P.E. clothes…" Someone said.

"Maybe they've already readied some for us…" Another concluded.

A light but sharp 'tch' could be heard from amongst the group, it was then that Jun had decided to broke off from them and began walking carelessly towards the male's changing room without even looking back at them. "And they say I'm a lost cause…"

Seiji was almost going to run after him. "Wait, Jun— "

"Fuck off you sad excuse of a class rep…" He barked back before disappearing out of sight with his last gesture was hands in his pants.

"Jeez, what's his problem?" Oboro mocked under his breath, there were tiny fumes of smoke blowing from the edge of his lips.

It wasn't like Jun's abhorrent behavior was an uncommon thing, but it wasn't that easy to tolerate either. Maybe to some he sometimes did had a point, even if it was executed in a particularly rudely way or unbelievably repulsive gesture, when he spoke he commonly had something to speak about rather than just spouting out random vulgar nonsense.

"Well, apparently we plan on wasting our time here for the rest of the semester." Suki said, scoffing as she crossed her arms above her chest. She was the second one who headed towards the changing room without a second thought. "I'm gonna go ahead, feel free to follow."

"Don't mind if I do…" Date snickered lecherously, only to be pulling himself back as he saw Suki shooting him a purple-hazed glare.

Seiji was already at his wit's end, maybe he should just go follow Jun and see how he was doing; Oboro and Yato also seemed to be thinking the same thing as him. The ponytailed boy then decided to just hurry and get himself dressed in a P.E. uniform. After he bid Kaori a "see you later", Seiji and the rest of his male classmates disappeared inside the changing rooms.

Inside, the boy wasn't all that surprised when he saw the size of the changing room itself. It was almost big enough to hold a couple of class inside, and if compared to Seiji's own classroom then he had to say that the male's changing room was definitely bigger yet less roomy due to the amount of lockers and wooden benches that was spread into rows and columns.

Seiji took off his shoes first, placing his white sock on the cold grey-and-white marble tiles below him. He then picked up his shoes and the socks that was fitted inside it and began searching around for any signs of available lockers. Every locker was more or less the same, with white and blue coloring their shapes and each had a little key placed on their locks.

When he opened a locker, he was at first glad to see a blue uniform folded neatly inside of it. But his face fell into puzzlement when another name was labeled on the small business card placed right on top of it. The business card was indeed no mystery of whom it belonged to, because Seiji had a pretty good idea Adachi was somehow behind it when he saw the font of the business card letters that formed the name 'Yato Shimura'.

" _This must be Yato's, then…"_ Seiji concluded as he fitted both the shirt and the pants into his arms, looking for the boy that had the ownership to the clothes that he was holding on to.

Not long after that, he saw the ash-haired boy standing in the middle of the changing room with another set of P.E. uniforms fitted into his arms as the rest of the class had begun searching for their right clothes.

Yato approached him as immediately as he saw Seiji noticing his presence. "This is yours," He told the taller boy, handing him the clothes on his arms while showing the little business card that had the name 'Seiji Orimura' written on it.

The boy before him stared with his eyes wide, he was partially relieved that he didn't have to look around a lot to find his own uniform. "Really? I have yours, right here!" Seiji told Yato as he showed him the set of uniforms and the business card in his hand.

"Shall we swap, then?" Yato asked him.

"Sure," Seiji nodded in agreement, "Thanks, by the way."

"It was no problem." Yato responded as he gladly received his own sets of clothes and Seiji received his.

" _Alright, then,"_ Seiji thought finally as he began undressing himself from his current school uniform after he placed his P.E. clothes on the floor next to where he changed. As he was relieved of his U.A. vest, he began untying his tie and proceeds on the white shirt underneath.

Almost all of his clothes was now off of him, he was left with only his thin white undershirt and his boxers which was seemingly almost too big for his waist without the help of a rubber string that was tied around the top.

Yato was also changing close by, he was already off of his upper clothes and was then bearing his open-chest to the whole changing room. The ash-haired boy noticed Seiji from the corner of his eye, and the thin white scars all over his body was shown to be visible from the position he was in.

"Hey, Orimura," He decided to start, pointing towards his many old scars, "did you do that yourself?"

Seiji raised his eyebrow at that before he noticed the many healed cuts all over his body. He began to laugh dryly, "Yes and no…"

"I see." Yato said as his voice trailed off.

Yato was silent for a while, he was beginning to finish changing his clothes. When he went to the first locker he saw and began placing his clothes there, he turned to Seiji once again. "I'll see you on the outside, then?" He told him.

"Sure." Seiji said as he watched as Yato began walking out of the changing room, already in his P.E. uniform, and with a small locker key in his hand. Seiji was left with the sudden powerful urge to go all out, it was his chance to show his potential, of course.

A few minutes later, almost all of the class had already changed in their P.E. uniforms. The clothes had fitted the ones who wore it perfectly, even Seiji who was somewhat of a tall fish bone. He felt the fabric of the clothes was comfortable enough on his body, and he even had the right movement capabilities on his limbs even though both his arms were long-sleeved.

He got out of the changing rooms with his locker key already fitted inside his P.E. uniform's pocket, and when he was walking towards the light from the exit door just across of the changing rooms he noticed that the girls had already finished before him.

Thinking back, everything seemed to be going so well. He was glad that he managed to get changed without having any trouble in the changing rooms.

Once he got outside of the building, he was met with the light of day: blinding his eyes which was still getting used to the afternoon sun. He noticed immediately after that that the scenery had him blown away by the sheer size of it.

The P.E. grounds was as massive as he had thought, it was indeed big enough to fit a couple of classes in there without any problems. He saw running tracks both Olympic sized and small sized with each of their own lengths, long-jump tracks that can hold as much as five people at the same time, a throwing field that was bigger than the one Seiji had remembered back in middle school, a regular basketball court, a football field on dirt, and many others. There was also gym equipment scattered about in the area.

He saw a little gathering right in front of him. Seiji got off the porch that he was standing on and approached the group that was still missing several people.

Aizawa was seen to be standing in front of the little group, the pro hero was already noticing Seiji walking towards the group while already in his P.E. uniform.

"Now that's eight." Aizawa muttered out as Seiji grouped himself in. When he noticed the few remaining students just got out of their changing rooms, he immediately went on to the lesson. "Alright, then. Class, come with me…" He said boorishly.

All of them was wondering where the pro hero and teacher was going to take them, their first thought was probably something that was related to strength or agility. But Aizawa didn't take them that far and only got them gathered up near what seemed to be a throwing field.

"First up, we'll be taking a look at your throwing ability… if that wasn't obvious enough..." The teacher said as he picked a small tennis ball from a nearby bucket filled with similar balls. He then began looking around the class as if he was trying to pick someone.

Aizawa then unexpectedly pointed his finger to the smallest male in the group. "You… come up here…"

Jun didn't even make any awful retorts, yet he was still looking beyond bitter and seemingly trying to poison Aizawa with just a single-eyed glare. When he came up to him and stood on what seemed to be the pitcher's mound, Aizawa lent the ball in his hand to Jun in which he responded with an offended stare.

"How far can you shoot?" Aizawa asked him in a demanding kind of tone.

Jun bared his fangs. "Enough to get it on your mom's back."

Silence.

It wasn't dumbstruck that quieted the class, probably more of an incredible amount of incredulity.

"Just throw the damn ball…" Even Aizawa sounded like he wasn't taking any of Jun's obligatory rudeness today.

Jun caught the ball as the teacher dropped it from above his head, the small statured boy was quieter than the rest of the class even though his spiteful look alone could speak a thousand bad words. Without any other things to add, Jun positioned himself right on top of the pitcher's mound as Aizawa backed away from the throwing field.

Seiji watched closely as Jun's right arm began to vibrate from slow and steady to insanely fast, it was obvious that he was storing power for a destructive throw. But what he didn't expect was that Jun was holding the ball on his left hand instead of his right, and he was bouncing it on his hand rhythmically.

With a quick throw upwards, the tennis ball went flying before gravity caught it and ultimately pulling it down again. The class had thought that Jun would've done his throw differently like how a pitcher was supposed to throw, instead, he struck the ball with a hard slap from his vibrating right hand.

With a loud **POW!** the ball seemed to have immediately broke the sound barrier as a mild gush of wind was blown from Jun's palm. The tennis ball flew, not in a parabolic movement, but rather in a straight line and went straight onto the park next to the P.E. grounds where several trees emitted the sound of cracking and being horribly disturbed by a sudden artillery that went through them.

Back at the class, Seiji stared in awe at the great unparalleled strength that Jun had performed. The short boy continued to stand on top of the mound as he tried to shake off his still tremoring arm.

Aizawa lifted a small stopwatch-like device on his hand so the class could see the words **567.8 meters** clearly. A lot of astonished gasps came from the crowd.

"I see…" Said a voice next to Seiji, a feminine one with a monotonous voice. "So, his Quirk works better if great force is met upon contact with a solid object."

"Is that so…" Seiji accidentally mumbled out.

Kaori nodded her head as her hand was still holding her chin thoughtfully. "I guess, judging from what we saw, he couldn't necessarily create a shockwave unless the vibration on his body is transferred to a solid medium spontaneously. If not, then, a tremor would occur in its place. It's easier to think that his body is capable of creating a certain number of transversal waves that can only work on solid objects."

"That was amazing!" Seiji praised, his eyes beaming with admiration. "How do you know all that?"

"Observation is the key, I guess." Kaori shrugged, a small smirk appearing on the edge of her lips. She crossed her arms just above her chest in a pompous manner.

"But you still didn't see this coming." Someone else snickered.

Kaori didn't expect the stinging pain on the tip of her face as someone pulled down her entire nose with a pinch. The girl winced in pain before she was finally freed from the hold, she held her nose in pain as she glared at the person responsible.

"What was that for?!" Kaori yelled out, which was only countered with a loud hearty laugh from Mori.

"For being a total dork." Mori sniggered joyfully as she patted Kaori's back with strength. "You're up next, Sunshine. Didn't you hear?"

Kaori then saw the entire class looking at her, as well as the washed-up looking teacher crouching on the pitcher's ground as if waiting for her to come up. Jun had already joined the class, but he settled himself on the far end where he stared blankly at Kaori with his arms crossed.

The girl walked up to the pitcher's mound while hiding her embarrassment, not long after that all of her thoughts were erased when Aizawa handed her another tennis ball before he turned towards the class.

"If you think U.A. is just a wishy-washy place that's just known for its shiny looks, you're dead wrong." Aizawa scolded with an icy tone, his dull eyes bore right through the class like a drill. "U.A. can, and will take you through hell, even more so when all of you are the same trigger-happy delinquents. You think we're not up for you? You think we can't shape you into heroes? Of course, we can. But in the end of the day, everything comes back to all of you. I personally see no hope in all of you, but if you can prove me wrong then try to humor me. Once you've began training here, there will be no safe spots, not when you're about to go through the worst three years of your life. Try to get washed away by the current, or fight it. Go beyond your limits."

As those words were finished being spout out, the class had seemed to be frozen to their spots. Seiji couldn't see it, but he could imagine that several others were as determined to push their boundaries like him.

With his fists clenched, Seiji looked past through the present and into the future where he could see himself into what he had been breaking his bones for: a hero.

…

Their sports shoes crunched the little rocks and sand beneath their feet, the sound of huffing and puffing was everywhere, those things always happen when you are told to run a 50-meter track with all your leg's might. If the pitcher's field where everyone took turns throwing a tennis ball to calculate the strength of their arms, the running tracks would obviously be used to test their speed with any methods necessary.

For some, the highest speed record to reach the finish line was impossible to achieve without the use of their Quirk. Fortunately, they were allowed to use their Quirks and even allowed to abuse their power in any way just to reach the finish line to gain their best speed records. _Unfortunately_ , not all have the right kind of power to boost their speed.

The better example would be Oboro. His Quirk was extremely practical in the terms of non-hand combat where he won't need to even move his hands to strike down an enemy, but his smoke-spewing power wasn't at all useful when used with his physical prowess.

As the tall boy did his best to run towards the finish line, he realized that the two people to his right was already miles away. There was Miyu who seemed to have trained herself particularly for battle, and it was showing on her ability to run at a great distance easily even without using her Quirk. The other was Tarasu who, like Miyu, had completely lacked the Quirk to aid him in speed yet he did just fine.

Not long after a few seconds later, Oboro finally managed to run past the white strip under him, he then began to slow down exponentially. With his heart beating aggressively, his breathing was immediately turned shaky and fast.

The time-measuring robot stood right beside the finish line, its big circular lenses capturing every moment that passed in front it. And after it caught Oboro's time, it sent its calculations to Aizawa's mobile device where he kept track of everyone's speed, and Oboro managed to get himself 12 seconds

"Dammit…" The boy cursed as he held on to his shaky knees to keep himself from falling, his bangs falling completely to his field of visions.

He saw Tarasu already walking away from the track field to get himself a bottle of water from the boxes of mineral water sitting on top of one of the benches. Oboro heard footsteps on the sand walking up to him, but he was too tired to look up.

"Third try?"

"Fourth." Oboro responded, his irritation got caught in his throat.

"You'll do better next time." Said the voice next to him. Oboro looked up to see the skeleton girl Miyu, she was hardly sweating after her run.

"Yeah well, Aizawa didn't want a next time…" Oboro said, he had to hold himself back from laughing. "You wouldn't mind if I ask you of your secret, would you?"

"Not at all." Miyu said apathetically as she stretched her arms through her P.E. uniform. "Get a little brother, I suggest two, then you'll see yourself running a mile in a minute."

The two settled for a quick rest, even if Aizawa had said that he had disapproved of short breaks if it meant slowing down the tempo of your adrenaline rush. The man himself was still noting down the performance of those three, and when he saw Oboro nonchalantly walking away from the fields with Miyu, he let them. God knows he tried.

As Oboro was now far from Aizawa who, by the time he started scolding the class again, would be out of his own earshot. Thank the lord for that.

But Oboro wasn't the only one who was having a hard time following the passing requirements, many others weren't gifted with a Quirk who could aid them in their needs for more speed. Suki was also trying her best to reach the point where she would be exceeding the expectations of even Mr. Aizawa.

When it was her turn to get herself ready at the start of the running track, Suki was partly optimistic with her chest puffing in and out as she tried to calm herself down for her upcoming race.

But when she ran, however, she found that not only that her legs were in no shape to run as fast as Miyu earlier, her bust size was also interfering greatly on her concentration as both her mounds would jump up and down in front of her, ultimately adding unwanted weight on her chest.

What was worse, several of the boys were also watching from outside the track field. Some of them even actually clapping their hands in awe.

"Amazing." Date said, clapping as his hard eyes sparkled.

"Magnificent." Yato remarked casually, yet nodding rigorously.

" _Splendide_." Kudou joined in with a big grin, also clapping along.

Not far away from them, Seiji had to _really_ hold himself back from laughing and from looking directly at the girl who was running on the track field, his ears were reddening and his face swelled up from the large amount of air that he was holding in his mouth.

He had no choice, of course. Kaori was glaring at him rather murderously from his right. Seiji was afraid that if he had said something at her, anything at all, it'll come out unmistakably wrong from what he would have previously intended.

Back at the field, Suki had unknowingly stopped abruptly even though she hadn't even reached halfway off of the track. She was gritting her teeth, her knuckles whitening as she clenched her fists, and she was still hearing the crowd of boys clapping at her.

"CAN YOU ALL FUCKING NOT?!" She shrieked at the top of her lungs, her face flushed with embarrassment and her eyes watery with tears of anger.

The race finally ended with Mika first reaching the finish line in no more than four and a half seconds, she had used her rocket propellers or whatever it was that she had stored on her feet and shoulder blades. The second was Mori who had settled herself with running on all four limbs (though, as inefficient as it might have looked, she had surprisingly reached the finish line in seven seconds. And of course, the last one who had reached that distance was no one else but Suki, and when she had finally reached the finish line in eighteen seconds, she was still grumbling to herself about 'not having the perfect size'.

Back at Aizawa's spot, which was just him sitting on the ground with nothing else to cover his rear but a yellow sleeping bag, he shouted out to the next race participants to ready themselves at the starting line.

"Alright, you three," He said aloud to Seiji, Jun, and Kaori, almost half-heartedly from where he sat, "just do like what I told the others."

The three who were mentioned had already positioned themselves in the three running tracks available. Seiji was on the left side, he saw that, beside him, Kaori was stretching her legs before she got up to proceed on twisting her hips. Seeing this, Seiji did the same. He didn't get to see what Jun was doing, but he could get the faintest idea that he was also readying himself up.

As Aizawa restarted the time-measuring robot's programs, he gave the first signal for the three to get ready. Seiji immediately got down all fours, his back foot was placed quite away from him, and his strongest foot was ready to push him off from the ground right under his belly.

The second signal 'set' was given, and Seiji along with the other two raised their rear for the perfect balance. The boy hardened his jaw, if it was just a running track, he could do it easily, or so he believed. When was the last time he got into P.E. lessons?

Seconds passed before the final signal was given. A loud bang filled the air as one of U.A.'s robots fired a gun-like sound from beside the starting line.

Like a heartbeat, Seiji pushed himself off, Kaori did the same, and Jun was already using his Quirk to propel himself from the ground. With his front leg vibrating and surging with powerful energy, the short boy pushed himself off of the ground with an after effect to that of a violent tremor.

Seiji and Kaori were both taken completely off guard from their already running position, the both of them lost balance at not even a second after the final signal was fired.

The boy at the left had already felt himself taking off from the ground, his running power was already ready to be used. But when the tremor struck at his foot, a sudden confusion occurred at his legs making him accidentally colliding his back leg with his front one.

The boy's heart went from working completely perfectly to beating in panic at approximately two hundred and fifty beats a minute. His foot was trying so hard to keep himself together, only to have his right ankle let out loud **CRACK!** at the moment he put his foot down the wrong way.

Seiji had no time to comprehend the ground beneath him before he crashed face first into it with a **THUD!** He wasn't going fast, but due to the inability of his front foot to move, Seiji could only let himself fall flat painfully. The sting on his nose and his ankles were unbearable, he also felt like he had fallen on his arm as well.

The boy groaned, he slowly lifted himself up from the sand. He felt heat on his face, and little pebble like objects sticking into his skin all over his body. Looking around, his body suddenly turned cold under the heat of the day.

Kaori was on the ground, sitting with her legs by her side. She seemed to be wincing in pain, holding her right ankle as if something had happened to it, even though there was no wound visible.

There was also Jun, the farthest one away. He was on the ground, lying flat on his front side as he seemed to be trying to recollect his thoughts on how he got into that position in the first place.

To Seiji, it was obvious to what had happened, and he had feared of the outrage that would come at his way if he had spilled that his Quirk had acted on them and throwing them off of their concentration.

"Grrrr…" Jun growled, he gripped the sand with both hands, his fingers digging into the ground with anger. He felt pain on his ankles and on his face, and he had a pretty good idea of what had just happened to him.

Seiji watched as not long after, Jun furiously kicked himself off of the ground, with his veins throbbing with vibrating anger, he let his Quirk boost his every step with power again.

Kaori's head snapped up at the sound of the shockwaves hitting the ground as Jun ran towards the finish line with all of his burning might. The girl didn't want to be left behind, of course. She quickly pushed herself together before slowly picking up pace as she started running again.

But Seiji was having a hard time standing up due to the swollen state of his ankles. The boy desperately looked at his foot before he stared back at the finish line, his head was spinning in exasperation and hopelessness. The boy bit his bottom lip as hard as he could, he could hear his heart hammering on the innards of his ear as he pushed himself to run through the pain on his ankles.

Every right step he took was limp, and he could imagine himself looking overly pathetic as he tried to reach for the finish line one last time. Sweat trickled down his chin as he stared at the white strip of the finish line with anguish.

Seiji's feet immediately gave out as he reached the first step on the finish line. He fell on his hands, and he was breathing hot breaths ever so rapidly. He quickly turned his body so he laid on the ground on his rear, he had to quickly check on the painful sting on his ankles, but a storm full of unstoppable rage had already came his way.

"You… pathetic… piece… of shit!" Jun's bark was loud enough to be heard by everyone, and when had already reached for Seiji's collar, there was no one who dared to stop him. "You pull that fucking stunt again, and I'll skin you from the balls up! I'll wear you like a fucking spandex! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?! I'LL BLENDER YOUR USELESS HEAD IN, YOU COCK-SUCKING FUCK!"

"That's enough, Jun." Said the stern voice of Aizawa, he raced on to the scene with his hands holding onto his scarf as if ready to put it into good use.

"Don't 'Jun' me, mongrel!" Jun spat back, still holding onto Seiji whom he went back to glare at. "You're shit! No. Calling you shit would be too kind! You're a pitiful waste of semen! Get this into your fucking noggin': you don't deserve being in this class! You don't even deserve to fucking breathe the same air as me! Stop trying, you fucking idiot!"

"I said," Aizawa said cuts off coldly, "that's enough."

Before Jun knew it, his whole head was draped entirely in white scarf. Below him, Seiji could see Jun's eye still visible from the gaps of the thick scarf that was slowly consuming the poor boy's head. Seiji was finally released from Jun's grasp before he fell to the ground, still watching Aizawa holding Jun tightly around his neck with his scarf.

"Let go the fuck out of me!" Jun cursed out as he tried to pry his way out of the coiling cloth that was holding him in place. His foot was stomping the ground like a bull, it seemed like he was trying to create a powerful tremor that never came.

"Stop struggling, brat!" Aizawa snapped at him as he pulled Jun closer. "I didn't bring my eye ointment!"

With a quick pull, Jun was launched back before he ultimately lost his footing and fell flat on his rear. The boy was still tossing and turning at the cloth that bind him, like a rabid dog trying to free himself out of his entrapment.

"I'll bash your head on a rock! I'll pry out your brains and carve out your face and wear it to your mum's birthday party!" Jun screamed out verbally while thrashing at the sand.

He was finally released after Aizawa decided to pull the knot at his neck, earning a loud "ACK!" from Jun. The boy's head was finally released from the man's scarf, and he began to choke out the saliva that was beginning to built in his mouth.

With a quick pull at the leftover bindings, Aizawa brought Jun's head close enough to his reach. The man grabbed the boy's head and dug his nails at his head. "I've dealt with someone worse than you. Hell, even I know someone here that you'd get along with. Now why don't you run out of my sight before I make you, hmm?"

Jun stared into Aizawa's unblinking eyes, he seemed like he was still in a daze as he was still trying to figure out why his Quirk wasn't working even though he was using it like he used to do. The boy bared his fangs before he immediately stood up from where he sat and stomped away from the scene with much anger. It was obvious that to him, deciding to fight against a U.A. teacher was no competition, it was a death wish.

And as the class watched as Jun disappeared into the building, they turned their attentions back at Seiji. Who was only sitting at the ground while staring at his bruised ankle with dull eyes. He was frozen for a couple of seconds, and even someone like Kaori was a bit worried.

Aizawa decided to jump into his problems. "You think you can still walk?"

Seiji said nothing, he only shook his head momentarily. He was disappointed at himself, thinking how he himself wasn't even halfway done through the Quirk Apprehension Tests.

"You're pushing your luck, you know that?" Aizawa chided, earning Seiji's attention. "Before you got in here, what made Adachi so keen to search for you so he could build his own little class? Why you, a boy with the Quirk of a double-edged sword, the one who I would've personally expel after this apprehension test? Just what did he see in you?"

Seiji, again, said nothing. He looked down at his scar filled knuckles, before his hands ultimately fell down on to the ground limply. He couldn't answer that question even when he desperately wanted to.

"Well, that man certainly expected something, but I can bet all my money that it wasn't this." And with that Aizawa turned his attention away from him. "All of you take five. Orimura, I expect that you know where the school infirmary is."

The boy merely nodded, not knowing yet not caring if the teacher had seen him do so or not. He tried lifting himself up, but the amount of pain on his ankles were just too unbearable. He couldn't seem to see himself walking even five meters from where he stood.

He then saw someone from the corner of his eye, a girl with jet black hair looking at him with eyes practically saying that she was worried sick. But not just her, Seiji could see even Oboro and Yato, along with Mori who had seemed to have stayed behind.

Kaori held out a hand. "Let me help you."

Seiji had no other choices, he needed to get himself fixed immediately before he would've begged to Aizawa for a follow up test as soon as possible. He couldn't let himself fail his very first task that was given to him at school, he couldn't let himself be seen as this pathetic.

He could see that even Oboro was keeping his distance from Seiji, it was understandable. But when he saw, next to him, the slight expression of agony on Kaori's face, he realized that she was trying to push herself through his Quirk's effects.

"Don't worry." Mori told him reassuringly. "They'll patch you up good, I'm sure of it."

Seiji merely smiled hesitantly at her as Kaori held on to his arm to offer him support. "Thanks."

"You guys go on ahead." Kaori said to the rest. "I'll join you all later."

"Careful on the way up, you guys." Mori chastised as she urged both the boys who were watching to go meet up with the rest of the class.

The minutes that went after that went smoothly. The class had already finished taking a quick break just in time before Aizawa got back from rearranging the next field for their uses, Kaori had also returned from her trip at the same time Seiji was being treated.

The sun was still shining above the school, the world was still spinning, yet Seiji could've sworn that he saw his world crumble before his very eyes.

* * *

 **Multi-Functional Building, Tokyo - 11:30 a.m.**

* * *

With documents in hand, Adachi became a busy man.

The building that he was in was also as busy as it could be, with many office workers both men and women strolled around the first floor like fishes in a giant aquarium. Everywhere was bustling with conversations of workplaces, everyone was carrying if not one, two layers of document slipped between their arms, and when basically anyone passed by Adachi, he could also smell the faint aroma of coffee.

The lion-maned man stood near the elevator with his cheap flip phone clutched on his right hand. He had to be honest: he looked exactly like most of the people here.

He tried to forget the fact that a cleaning lady, who looked exactly like that of a frilled lizard, just gave him a wink before she went towards the restrooms with the trolley that she pushed that was full of cleaning equipment.

With a quick lean towards the handrail near the outside of the elevator, Adachi stretched his ankles as he rotated the edge of his black leather shoe. The man stared at the many busy working individuals, before he wondered of the laborious work that these people had to go through.

It wasn't a hero's work, but stabilizing the economy was no simple manner. Would this be a good substitute workplace if heroics initiative turned out to be a failure?

From the corner of his eye, Adachi saw a small fluffy creature standing right beside him.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Nedzu squeaked, checking his small tie that fitted his neck perfectly.

"It was nothing, Principal…" Adachi said, waving him off before he let go of the railing to stand straight. "Shall we go?"

"Oh, don't be like that." Nedzu told him. "I haven't apologized properly for arriving late."

"That's alright, sir. I didn't even wait that long." With a quick pull at his own tie, Adachi approached the elevator first.

Nedzu merely stared at him with an uncertain look, but the little mammal merely shook of his feeling before he joined the taller man in the available elevator that had just arrived on their floor.

After Adachi chose a floor, the door closes automatically. As the elevator went up with a light budge, Nedzu looked out the window panel behind him in which he could see the bustling crowds of workers down below on the ground floor.

Adachi looked at him from the corner of his eye. "Hey, may I ask you something?"

"What is it, Hisaki?" Nedzu said.

"How did you do it?" The man asked, he was making weird gestures with his hands as if he was trying to find the right words to say. "You being principal of the most prestigious school of U.A."

Nedzu merely looked at him with a weird face. "Why the sudden interest?"

"I've never get to talk to you about that." Adachi admitted. "When we met a couple of years ago, it was because of a student's son gone bad, right?"

The two were silent, the only sound that could be heard was the sound of the elevator zooming upwards.

"Would you've believed me if I had said that I tried to earn myself a spot as an office worker?" Nedzu said finally as he turned to Adachi with a light smile. "Yes, apparently office regulations back then had a strict rule to only accept… ahem… _sapient_ workers."

"Was this before you taught classes at U.A.?" Adachi asked him.

Nedzu nodded. "It was way back when heroes were only an experimental program. Homeland security was only a small branch under the regulations of the Minister of Defense, right next to the Japanese Self-Defense Forces."

Adachi chuckled. "And here I thought you couldn't get any older."

"The older you are, the more mysterious you can be." Nedzu said before tapping at the old wound mark that went through his right eye. "Do you want to know how I got these scars?"

"So… about being an office worker…" Adachi coughed awkwardly.

"Ah! Yes. Finding a job for the Quirked was almost impossible; the world back then was still new to the concept of superpowered individuals, that was why back then not every workplace had the right equipment to facilitate gifted individuals. As I said, heroism was a new thing, I remember when the most popular hero was a guy who dressed as a bat and Americans had just assembled their own group of superheroes." Nedzu went silent for a few seconds with a wide smile under his snout, he seemed to be mesmerizing over the memories he recalled from his past. "I was no exception: the world was already hard enough for people with convenient Quirks to help with their daily lives, now you can imagine how that would've played out for me."

Adachi pondered at that. He understood the feeling of being lost in an ever-awake world where the chances of being successful is something that everyone will fight for. Back then, he had thought that life was unforgiving for him, that childhood dreams were nothing more than that: dreams.

"How did you end up teaching?" He asked in curiosity.

"Because I am smart." Nedzu laughed. "When I was young, there weren't many schools that accepted Quirked people like you and me. People had thought that the normal shouldn't blend with the abnormal. But when I found one, I immediately knew that that was the place that would be my home for the rest of my life."

"But you could've become anything back then." Adachi said as he pondered upon Nedzu's statements.

"That was true… I could've chose to become anything else! But… I had a different goal in mind back then." The mammal's voice trailed off as he leaned back towards the elevator door. "U.A. wasn't as big as it was today. Back then that school was just a government run disciplinary school for the 30%. When I began teaching I was… I had been seeing the world one-dimensionally."

Adachi wondered what he meant by that. "Weren't you one of the founding teachers?"

"Of course, not." Nedzu said in a sorrowful tone. "If I had been someone who had the power to do such things, I wouldn't be here."

Adachi's eyes widened at that, he was surprised. Sure, he knew that Nedzu was a bit of an unavailing hero when it came to his Quirk, thus making his search of work back then was always futile, but he was also clever creature nonetheless.

"I… don't know what you're talking about, sir." The man said in all honesty. "I've always heard from everyone that you were the pinnacle of modern heroics."

"If creating a revolution counts, then yes." Nedzu scoffed. "You see, Adachi. I was nothing more than an animal to society, back then. It was only when I gained my Quirk that they began seeing me as 'abnormal'. I always thought that the Quirkless, who by the time was still upholding the largest number of people worldwide, were all the same. Scary, stupid, evil."

"Alright, then," Adachi said as he nodded hesitantly, "what changed?"

"Children." Nedzu answered him. "They were outcasts of society, thrown out from their families due to their unnatural powers, some even developed mental disorders. Gaining trust over them was easy, everyone understood the situation they were in, and so I successfully raised one of the biggest protests in Japan."

The mammal stopped for a couple of seconds before he continued. "But I can't live with the fact that I tried to control Japan the same way the Quirkless tried to control the Quirked. I never wanted to raise those children into power because at the end of the day, you'll realize you were raising weapons.

"That's the thing between you and me that I am glad to know: we aren't that different." Nedzu told Adachi, looking at him with eagerness filling his beady eyes. "You have big dreams, similar to my past ones, but you are still young. You'll eventually learn why I needed to become who I am now, why I chose to take over the position of a principal."

Adachi scoffed. "'Eventually'."

"Isn't that what you wanted? To be someone who can be a beacon of hope to U.A.?"

The two of them ended up leaning back against the railing as they watched the numbers on top of the elevator door in front of them. As the elevator had passed the fourth floor, the scenery outside the window changed completely: from the elegant scene of the 20th-something century workplace, now they could see the landscape of Tokyo in all of its glimmering glory as skyscrapers reached higher and higher the more it got farther than them.

With the exception of acrophobic people, anyone else would've been impressed by the mere sight of it. There was no wind that could've gone through the window panels and into the circular elevator, but Adachi could feel the breeze of summer just by looking at the flock of pigeons that flew overhead.

"Wished I could've been like you…" Adachi suddenly said as he hung his head, earning Nedzu's attention. "But, even though I am 32, I never had any children before. You can see how well it went for me during the assembly a few months ago."

"I think you're underestimating yourself, Adachi." Nedzu told him. "You'll never realize your potential if you keep looking at what you're bad at. Isn't that what you're trying to teach the class?"

"There is a difference."

"How so?"

"It just does..." Adachi said, clenching his fists until his knuckles whitened.

"There you go again…" Nedzu chuckled, not faltering from his usual politeness. "If I had a penny for every time you doubted yourself…. Do you even remember why you brought those children to me?"

Adachi stared at the small mammal in silence, unsure of what to say. Looking back, he still had completely remembered clearly reason why he had chosen to create such initiative. But he was selfish back then, the same person as he was now.

"I don't think I can live up with myself when they know why…" Adachi muttered out, his eyebrows furrowing completely.

"You have no reason to feel down." Nedzu simply responded. "They'll understand."

The elevator suddenly let out a loud ringing bell, in which the door responded by splitting apart. The thirteenth floor was now opened up to them, and when they got off the elevator they saw that there was nobody present as far as the eye could see.

As the elevator door closed behind them, the man and the mammal in business suits looked around them and saw that they were in a hallway in which each end of the hallway had their own corner turns.

There was a rather intense atmosphere between the two, in which the taller man looked like he was about to pass out from constantly sighing.

"We're here to find a more suitable teacher." Adachi said in a stern voice, his eyes locked dead ahead.

"Will they accept any of them, though?" Nedzu asked him, his hands behind his back.

"Principal, you know I couldn't…" The man stopped himself just as he started blurting out unwanted things out of his mouth. After a long, sorrowful sigh. "It was easy for you. Back then you knew what was best for the school, even though you yourself wasn't accepted entirely in society."

Adachi then pointed at his own chest, gesturing to his whole figure. "If they knew who I was… I'm afraid I couldn't live that…. You were the epitome of education, everyone looked up to you as the most intelligent—"

"That shall be enough, Mr. Adachi." Nedzu said, stopping him as he raised his hands up. "We are adults. We know what we want, and when we want it. If this is what you want, then I'll respect your decision. But I can't say the same for _your_ class, who are still kids that needs someone—"

"Better than me." Adachi tried to finish off.

"—who understands them…" Nedzu said in a reproaching way. "No one can do that better than you."

"Even if that's true…" Adachi retaliated quickly. "I can never be half of the man you are. I came to you that day because I knew what's best."

"Yes, that is true. But you came with a weak heart, too." Nedzu nodded in agreement with him. And before Adachi could counter him, Nedzu continued, "Alas, I couldn't say different as to myself. We are helping each other, aren't we? You aren't the only one looking for hope back then."

The two took a moment of relief as the air around them felt less-pressurized. And just when they began looking for the right room they had agreed on meeting in, an ape-like laugh filled the silence.

As footsteps came over to them, they saw the figure of a man with golden hair covering his scalp onto the back of his hands. The man had a larger mouth, almost protruding even, with abnormally bigger ears and wider forehead, similar to that of a chimpanzee. But this golden-haired monkey was walking with his body upwards and completely straight, he was even wearing a clean business suit and a large pair of shoes.

Just from the looks alone, Adachi could tell that this was the man that they were looking for. "Well, if it isn't the Chinese Number 1 Hero, Sun Wukong."

"Sunny is fine, Adachi!" The ape-man laughed, walking up to them before patting the lion-haired man on his back with great strength. "I haven't seen you since the '20s! You look better in a suit that in a warzone, my friend!"

"Charmed." Adachi deadpanned, holding out his hand to shook Sunny Wukong's. "How was your flight?"

"Oh, you know…" Sunny began with a sly smirk, "nothing special… there were two bell-ends who tried to hijack the plane, in which I took care of… but that's just it. The whole trip was boring, if I can be honest."

"Lies." Adachi said with a chuckle.

"Come, come! We have so much to talk about! Including that part where you wanted to show me those classes that you had me to take care of." Sunny boasted out heartily as he urged the other man towards one of the end of the hallway.

When Adachi began walking away from the elevator lounge, he gave a short look towards the small mammal behind him. It was a look of hesitancy and resolution, in which he was still trying to burn out his leftover doubts because he knew what was best.

This was a point of no return.

* * *

 **Lunch Rush Cafeteria - 12:10 p.m.**

* * *

The lunch bell had finishing ringing at about ten minutes ago, and everyone in the school immediately heard it.

There was a time where Mr. Adachi had said to the class to be careful of lunchtimes during noon, because that is when you will easily get lost. And boy, was he right.

During lunch time, everyone would go to the Lunch Rush Cafeteria owned by none other but the Pro Hero Lunch Rush: the man whose Quirk was seemingly making food at an impossible rate. Judging by the fact that he had to feed eleven classes, three different years of students, the teachers, and now, he had the H.R.I. Class in his hands.

Just when the Quirk Apprehension Test was over, and the H.R.I. Class was now gathered for lunch right when the other classes were too.

They weren't kidding when they said that the cafeterias would be humongous, it supported each class with ease as the room itself had the possibility to be designed for keeping in refugees from a city that had just been struck by a disaster.

Even Mori still had the look of awe stuck on her face as she just had her tray of food brought onto the nearest table she found as available. But when she was only a few steps there, another girl suddenly blocked her path.

"Nu-uh, Wolfy." Said the girl with a bitter look on her face. "Not here."

Mori was in a daze until she saw a couple more of this girl's friends surrounding her, waiting for her to leave the empty table alone.

Someone then tapped her shoulder, and when she looked around, she saw Kaori. "Let's just take another table." Kaori encouraged.

For a few seconds, Mori had no idea what to do. But she gave in anyway and decided to go with Kaori and leave the table to the group of girls from other classes.

Not long after, they saw an occupied seat, but this time they saw her classmates taking over it. There was Seiji who gestured to the both of them to come by, along with most of everyone else from their class.

"You cool if I take this seat?" Mori asked Seiji as she approached the empty space beside him.

The boy merely nodded with a smile. "Sure. What are you eating?"

"Oh… meat…" The girl said as she stared at the blob of cooked flesh on her tray. "What about you?"

There was a brief silence as Seiji stared at the tray full of five different foods that would have fitted perfectly in the food triangle. "Well… this'll cost me money, won't it?" Seiji asked sheepishly.

"Well, it is a lot." Mori nodded as she scanned the large portion. "I'm just surprised that you could eat this much."

"Oh, well, I never got to eat this much with a price that could've cost me the less amount in ramen shops…" Not long after Seiji said that, his face fell. "Do you think it's too much? I think it's too much. Sometimes I can't adjust the right amount of food I eat."

"Of course not, man." Mori said as she chewed on a piece of her meat. "If anything, I'm more concerned about that ankle of yours."

"Oh, yeah," Oboro, who was sitting beside Kaori, finally spoke up after he began digging into his mashed potatoes, "so in the end you only got last rank, right?"

"Yes, indeed." From beside Seiji, Mika piped up, her face expressionless. "Both your strength and your speed are in need of an improvement."

A loud scoff was then heard from the bulky boy Date, who was distancing himself from Oboro and the rest. "Yeah, listen to the robot chick. Bet she'll give you a hand. A robotic one at that."

Then, Kudou suddenly stood up from where he sat across of Date and began imitating a robot voice. "You. Will. Be. Upgraded!... Upgrading. Is. Compulsory!"

There was a chuckle from Yato, who was sitting next to Date. "I understood that reference."

"Sit down you twit…" Tarasu jeered as he lifted his head from between his arms, looking like he had just been trying to sleep but his arms were salting the food tray in front of him.

Seiji, who was sitting near Tarasu, could only watch with his lips pursed completely as the hunchbacked boy was still salting his tray until it looked like snow had fallen on top of it.

"You know… Tarasu… I think that's enough salt." Seiji muttered out while trying to keep his eye away from the sight that would've made him pucker his lips.

"Eeeh? What are you talking about? Don't you know that I have to eat salt in order to keep my crystal productions working?" Tarasu said to him, his hand was still trying to empty the salt shaker.

"Well that was something new." Kaori deadpanned before she turned back towards Seiji. "So, how is your leg?"

"I told you, it's fine!" The boy replied, spinning the edge of his spoon inside his mashed potatoes. "The school nurse is a pro hero! She can mend bones in second, did you know that?"

Then, Seiji went silent, he looked like he was burdening a guilt inside of him. "Hey, Kaori, sorry for what had happened back then. You wouldn't have fallen if it wasn't for me."

"It's… alright, Seiji." Kaori assured him. "If it's you, I'm okay with it."

"I'm not okay with the fact that you might suddenly hurt yourself again." Oboro remarked, pointing the end of his spoon at Seiji.

Beside him, Kaori shot him a glare. In which he returned with a look of disgust.

"What? Sorry if I ain't tryin' to flirt like you, Tsukinose." Oboro scorned away at her with a little tease at the edge of his lips.

Before Kaori could loudly contradict the words from Oboro with a face colored heavy red, Seiji had already said what he always wanted to say from the bottom of his heart.

"Well, yes, it's true that I'm going to be a nuisance to you guys for the next three years…" Seiji sighed as he hung his head, vision downwards as his grip on his spoon tightened. "I can't do anything about that, too. I'm sorry."

Everyone went silent, looking at him with either pity, understanding, or confusion. Even though Oboro had said that he didn't trust Seiji's Quirk, he was still eager to see how Seiji would fix it himself. And not counting Kaori who was probably the most concerned out of the bunch, the rest had a bewildered expression when they had thought that Seiji had given up on it all.

"But…" And suddenly, the boy began again, "I am still trying to walk the same path as yours. I will try to control my Quirk, but I'm not going to back down just yet. Besides, what kind of class rep I'll be if I was surpassed by my own underlings?"

The rest had their expressions softened, and as he heard this, Yato decided to put a hand on Seiji's shoulder. The ponytailed boy's half-hearted laughs was immediately cut off when he saw Yato's benign face.

"You are a good person, Seiji. I'm sure you'll become a great person in the future, too." He said reassuringly, surprisingly averting his eye from his mobile phone.

"Ah… well… thanks…" Seiji had tried, but the embarrassment was too much.

"Your scars have proved so much." Yato told him. "You should try and show it more."

The other male blinked confusedly at that. "I-I don't think that's necessary."

With a blank look on his face, Yato gave Seiji some thumbs up. And Seiji could only stare at the boy in incredulity.

Not long after, the crowd in the cafeteria began to lower their voices, and only the sound of a high-chinned, pompous brat could be heard from somewhere else. The noise of arrogance could be heard from miles away, and the laughter that came after could make anyone wince away in awkwardness.

The H.R.I. Class could see from the distance that a certain blonde-haired boy was the source of all the noise, and in front of him was the epitome of anger and destruction in the form of a short boy.

"What's the matter?" Said the taller boy in a mocking manner as he lowered his head to indirectly insult Jun's height. "Don't tell me you're still planning to become a hero. Not only do you lack the spine, you lack the intelligence too? And here I thought you couldn't get any _lower_!"

Everyone could see the poor tray that Jun was holding, slowly being crushed by his hand. "Listen here, bub. I really don't want to have a wit match wit you, because normally I don't fight people whose unarmed."

"Oh, I'm sorry," The blonde boy said quickly, raising a hand to his ear, "was that sass I hear? What made you think that you have gained enough points to even think that you can sass _me_?"

"Fine… if this is what you want…" Jun growled loudly, throwing his tray aside as he walked up towards the taller boy with his foot stomping the ground.

" _Shit… shit… he'll kill that kid!"_ Seiji thought fearfully before he stood up from his seat in a hurry. _"I need to stop Jun immediately!"_

Before he could even leave his table, he saw Jun already inches close to the taller boy's chest. In his mind, Seiji was picturing the most horrific way the blonde boy could die, and then he tried to shake away his imaginations away.

But Jun, instead of punching away the innards out of the blonde boy's back, stumbled back. The expression on his face seemed cold and pained, as if he was experiencing great agony at that moment. Jun held his chest in a hurry, clutching at his uniform tightly before he slipped on his dropped food and fell to his rear on the floor.

Seiji, and the rest of his classmates, watched in confusion as Jun wasn't standing up from his position. Instead, the short boy who was known for his sociopathic tendencies only held the edge of the table near him as if he was holding on for his life.

"HAHAHA! Look at him! He can't even beat my good looks alone!" The blonde boy laughed loudly for the whole cafeteria to hear, he kept pointing towards the spoiled and hopeless state of Jun Hamada. "And he thinks that he can be like one of us? What a joke! This only proves that I, Monoma Neito, am no match for any class that tries to defeat my own—"

"Hey." Said a cold voice from over his shoulder. And as the boy named Monoma Neito felt an iron grip on his shoulder, he looked back only to see the face of death itself. "Leave. Or I'll make you leave." Said Death, in a feminine voice.

Neito sunk in his place, his face paled as his eyes were locked on the dead, green eyes on the face of his offender. The girl seemed to be taller than he was, and was holding a long pale sword on her back too.

The blonde boy slowly shuffled away from where he stood, the sight of that lipless mouth of her was terrifying to behold. And when a girl with orange hair tied to a side-tail pulled him by the collar and took him away, the H.R.I. Class scrambled onto the scene.

"What happened?" Seiji asked Miyu who just had gotten into the scene.

"I don't know." Miyu shrugged, putting down her sword as it slowly turned into white dust. "Ask the Little Mister Rude here."

All of them stared at Jun, who was starting to pick himself up from the floor. The boy hid his eyes under his bangs, he wasn't going to look back into the eyes of the class anytime soon.

And then, Seiji had just the weirdest idea. "H-hey… you know… if you ever got into—"

"Shut up." Jun demanded with a low 'tch!' as he began cleaning his pants.

But Seiji merely narrowed his eyes at him. "L-look, I don't know what happened, but if you want to talk about it I could—"

"Fuck off!" Jun rudely spat as he pushed Seiji out of his way, then, he began walking away from the class with quick steps. "I don't need your pity!"

"What the hell's wrong with you?" This time, it was Miyu who spoke up, her voice low yet intimidating. "You could've killed that kid, you know? What? Did you suddenly grow a soft spot?"

"YOU DON'T KNOW _A FUCKING THING_ ABOUT ME!" Jun barked back at them, and yet, he wasn't going to turn his face at them.

The boy left the cafeteria without any words left to spit out of his bitter mouth. The rest of the H.R.I. Class had completely forgotten that the whole school was watching them from the start, and when they did, they immediately disassembled with some of them already starting to leave the cafeteria as well.

In silence, Seiji merely looked at his leftover food with a painful confusion eating away at his very core. He knew very well that Jun hated him, but he didn't know any reason why, and it made him mad.

Next to him sat Kaori, who was still staring at the doorway to the cafeteria ever since Jun left. A sudden speculation got into her head.

For now, they both decided to ignore their thoughts.

* * *

 **Hi, I'm back. It's a miracle that I could update on such short amount of time.**

 **Anyway... what was I going to say?... I forgot...**

 **Ah. Yes. So, on the important notes, I just wanted to let you guys know that I am going back to school this Monday, and therefore my time to write will be shortened gradually. And yes, I may or may not will be going on hiatus for a few... weeks at best... I don't know but considering from chapter 4 to 5, there will be a lot of time managing involved.**

 **Hold on a second... what was that?... Oh. Of course...**

 **So I just wanted to tell you that I rewritten chapter 5. I forgot to put in Miyu's backstory and I decided to change one thing so this chapter would make sense. You can go re-read it if you like, but not a lot changed, I just added a backstory and few dialogues.**

 **Thanks for reading, and see you next chapter (I'll probably put in a filler after this just to add chapters, so don't worry).**

 **And, of course, review!**

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

 **Two days passed, and now Seiji and the class finally get to see All Might up close! What does he plan on doing with the kids?**

 **With Jun now put in a situation that he certainly wasn't ready for, will he finally give in to the secret he had been holding on to?**

 **Something bad is happening... an evil is rising and it's searching... and it's going to find what it is looking for soon...**

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

 **R &R**


	9. The Calm Before the Storm

**H.R.I. Classroom - 14:30 p.m.**

* * *

The light shone thoroughly into the classroom. As streak of emerald broke through the lush green non-blooming cherry blossoms, creating a dark hue of leaves and branches. The birds weren't chirping, neither did the wind was blowing, it was the start of a new season after all.

The classroom wasn't so much as lively as it ever did. Silence overwhelmed the students as all of them were too focused on their own work, or rather, their own confusion. On top of each desk were many sheets of paper stapled together on the top corner. Each page had a task, specifically made for the H.R.I Class.

Yes. It was the middle of a written test.

Dozens and dozens of pages with 25 questions each for a different form of studies; once you've finished physics, you are expected to immediately move into the next material, which was chemistry. It would seem that having many lessons compressed together to a single test would be overworking, which was why the class was given twice the time of their class to finish their work in complete silence.

Complete silence was an overstatement, it would also seem. Judging by the sound of their legs fidgeting, their pen tapping on their worksheet, and their constant low grumbles and moans of agony.

There was a reason, if Seiji—who, by the time they reached fifty minutes, had only done about two lessons out of dozens—could remember correctly, why they needed to have continuous writing tests. If it wasn't for testing their intellect, it was to test their dedication. Adachi had one day specifically said to not be bothered by not having good grades on the first semester, not when there is still three years of school to come.

But that wasn't the issue for Seiji, because no matter how hard he tried to study, nothing seemed to be getting into his head.

First week, he had been given an average of D on his lessons. It was alright, Kaori had assured him. There was still time, Yato had comforted him. But after the second week, he had doubts of him progressing on this semester at all.

There was a time where Seiji would think that maybe the constant and unhealthy consummation of high school studies were taking a toll on his energy and power to think. But when Mori had proven herself to be doing better than everyone had expected, it only made Seiji even more anxious about his future.

Then, after Mori, Kaori was the second one to catch up, then it was Oboro, and so on. And Seiji was nowhere near catching up.

The teacher in front of the class was minding his own business. The pro hero Ectoplasm had drawn out his own light novel from underneath his robe and began reading pages by pages of fiction in silence.

The clock was ticking, and most of the students were nowhere near finishing their work. They had once hoped that Aizawa was joking when he said he would take the H.R.I Class twice more seriously in their studies.

Seiji's eyes wandered away from his desk, hesitantly looking at the wall clock right at the front of the class. His heart tightening painfully against his chest as he realized the amount of time left for him and his class. Even though the tick of the clock was probably too muffled to be heard by anyone, Seiji could swear that he felt like he was surrounded by dozens and dozens of atomic time bombs.

Moments passed until he heard something behind him. An ushered whisper that seemed to have entered his ears only, something about 'pass the answer keys'. It certainly didn't help him feel any better in his case.

Seiji crouched down on the side of his bed, his head hung between his shoulders as his legs swayed left and right in accordance to the nonexistent wind. Open heartedly, Seiji actually didn't mind if a villain attacked the school as of now.

But then, like a truck, something hits him.

" _Wait a sec…"_ He suddenly retracted. _"I know these…"_

With a sudden iron will, Seiji picked up his mechanical pencil once more. He wrote all the thoughts that he had on his mind, relentlessly trying to make his point across.

His graphite scribbled his words with ease, suddenly the boy that held it felt a tad bit lifted off of his feet. All of his worries, for once, were set aside. Perhaps, by chance or by luck, he could pass the test!

"Alright class," Pro Hero Ectoplasm suddenly said, "five minutes left, and after that, please place your test sheets on the front desk."

A fuse had been blown. Every single student in class had turned into a muttering mess as the atmosphere in the class had suddenly dropped to the point of stressfulness.

Seiji scribbled and scribbled, but alas, he knew that he couldn't have finished it all anyway. With his lips pursed, he held on to his single last thread of determination.

"Three minutes left!"

" _No… No…"_ Seiji screamed inside his own head.

"One-minute left."

Reaching his sixth subject, Seiji finally decided to only do those that he recognizes. _"Come on! Come ooooon!"_

"Thirty seconds…"

" _W-wait! No! No! No!"_ His mind said, yet, blurred out by the sound of the class hastily turning their papers.

"Five…"

"— _Wait—"_

"Four…"

"— _Please—"_

"Three…"

" _STOP!"_

"Two…"

" _NOOOOO!"_

* * *

 **H.R.I. Dorms - 22:15 p.m.**

* * *

Night fell quickly upon the dorm building. The children are tired and the teachers had already let them be.

As the rest of the class, wherever they are, had already disappeared to either their dorms or the kitchen, most of the females of the class were all huddled up in the living room. Their voices are low and composed as they discussed of how they did back then at the mock test.

It was the beginning of a long summer, and of course, all of them wore something close to a tank top and/or a plain, polyester top. Though, as close as they seem, only one or two people had chosen to sit at least an inch apart from each other.

Yet, out of the bunch, only Mori was the one who couldn't feel the heat of the stress. The wolf girl, with her heart held high almost as high as her nose in the air, scoffed at the sight of her friends.

"I can't help it," She boastfully said, "I _am_ pretty smart!"

In front of them were their test sheets, placed on top of a coffee table, with their grades written on the top corner. And Mori's sheet is the one who surpassed them all.

Yes, she did get the highest score out of them all. Mori, the most laid-back person in the whole class, had somehow managed to impress the teachers. She sat there on the sofa, legs crossing so high that it made her short pants wrinkle, her chest puffs out in a victorious stance that could bee seen through her light grey tank top, raining a smug expression down on her dormmates.

Even Mika who was supposedly programmed to be flawless.

"How…" Miyu, while wearing her black band t-shirt, started with a look of exasperation, "in the world did _this_ happen?!"

When she said this, she had shot a sharp glare towards the cybernetic female who wore a light blue nightgown, matching her robotic bluish aura in a surprisingly beautiful way.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but," Mika said, "Mori Kururugi merely obtained an exceeding score in physical examination, did she not?"

Mori made a loud and obnoxious harrumphing sound, "It's not nice to be a sore loser, you know!"

Mika, out of habit, bowed her head. "Forgive me, then."

"There's no need to forgive her, you know." Miyu, Mori's _best friend_ , told her. "If it weren't for P.E., you'd be the top in class!"

"Hey!" Mori yelled. "Whose side are you on?"

Miyu pouted as she turned her head away, "Anything is better than watching you win, anyway."

"Regardless," Kaori piped in just before Mori could try to jump into another conflict, "we should really be focusing on what we should do for next assignment. Didn't Adachi had already clearly told us to start worrying more about progress rather than excellence?"

She sips on her tea, careful to not let it fall to her blouse and chiffon skirt. The way everyone heard her say only caused the room to start feeling more and more conflicted.

"Hee? Says the girl with the lower rank…" Mori taunted, hiding her snicker behind her hand.

It was true, between the four of them, Kaori had second to the lowest score out of the four, but only by a single score from between both Mika and Miyu. She did averagely good on P.E., aced in math and science, but she almost flunked in heroics. To her, this never really meant as an insult considering how the boys had been doing with their grades, but Mori had just asked for it.

"I couldn't really care less." Kaori spat at her, yet her eyes are still affixed to her tea. "Never mind that, you shouldn't really boast about grades when your attitude scale is pretty low."

Mori suddenly turned beet red. "I thought we agreed to not talk about that!"

"She's right," Miyu nodded in agreement with Kaori, "considering how two-thirds of your weekdays were spent with sleeping and skipping out classes."

"Quite so." Mika suddenly said. "If I could recall correctly, Mori only never seemed to be absent on physical examination."

"My grades balanced it out, you know!" Mori called out, furious.

As the living room suddenly broke into a fit of debates, someone else suddenly came in. As the three of the girl group are still taking part in a heated conflict of words, Kaori noticed the other person, namely the only female in the group who isn't partaking in the discussion.

Suki Takara is, by any means, a lonewolf. Though, nobody had really tried to ask her about it, knowing that she'd just hypnotize them in the process.

She wore a used long-sleeved t-shirt, striped with several worn-out colors such as red and blue. But it wasn't the state of the clothes that caught Kaori's eyes, it was because they were simply too little to be worn. Even though it should be obvious that, due to her mature body, she shouldn't be wearing such skimpy clothes, she is almost looking like she had been wearing that shirt for years.

Out of the corner of her eye, the raven-haired girl follows Suki's form towards the kitchen before disappearing and reappearing again with a glass full of water in her hand.

The girl noticed that Kaori had been looking at her the whole time before she decided to not care about it.

But when she passed the sofas, Kaori had suddenly started to talk to her.

"How did you do on your test?" This was a rhetorical question, remembering how Suki's grades are well above her own.

Suki merely shot her a distrustful stare. "Why do you care?"

"Well…" Kaori actually didn't know how to answer that, she just felt like it was the polite thing to do, "we're trying to compare our grades, it'd be nice to join in, you kn—"

"Thanks, but," Suki cuts her off, "I hate company. I'm better off doing things on my own."

Kaori's heart sank, she couldn't believe what she had just heard. But, having to be face to face with Suki, Kaori realizes how very unkept her wavy hairs is, almost as if she hadn't been looking out for herself these past few days.

Not only that, Suki appears to have bags under both her eyes, her cheeks are paler than before, and her posture is worse than the first time she had been here.

Kaori said nothing, she lets Suki continue on her way towards the stairs.

But just before Suki disappeared out of the living room and up to the dorms, Mori had suddenly called her way.

"Heya, Suki! I didn't notice you there!" Mori carelessly said, urging her to join them, "I heard you didn't do well on heroics! Wanna come here and talk about it?"

Suki stayed silent, almost as if she was torn. But Kaori manages to butt in.

"Let her be," She said, arms crossing, "what we need now more than anything is an effective progressiveness. If she insists on being independent, I don't see why we should interfere."

The rest of the girls exchanged glances amongst each other. The heated debate that started not long ago had been suddenly forgotten by both parties. And when not even one look of denial ever came from Suki, she continues to disappear up the stairs, bringing the feeling of dread with her.

But, even though Suki had already been gone and unheard of anymore, there was still a leftover feeling of uncertainty, and empathy. Almost as if they are being weighted by the guilt knowing that they could've done something.

"I'm going upstairs." Kaori suddenly said as she hastily reaches to the coffee table before picking up sheets of her own paper.

Nobody tried to stop her, not even Mori, considering she was the one who invited Kaori in the first place. The girl had disappeared from the living room just like that, not even one more word to her dormmates.

Kaori is left to her thoughts just as she stops by the door to her own room, he hand had already reached out towards the knob. Darkness enveloped her figure; her hand was close to being unseen. The hallway had already been silent the moment the sun sets.

A sudden sound came from her right, something close to footsteps were coming down towards her floor. Kaori didn't know why, she waited for that someone to somehow appear, almost as if she was hoping.

Then, as her eyes adjust themselves to the darkness, Kaori spots a boy of her age. Messy haired, tied to a ponytail on the back of his head, it was clear who this person was.

"Oh!" Seiji said in surprise, almost tripping himself on the stairs when he saw her. "Y-you're still up?"

Kaori closes her eyes, sighing. "Yes," She told him with a smile, "and you? I expect you to be sleeping, considering how tomorrow we still have school."

Seiji stops just in front of the stairwell, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. "I… am still studying…"

"I can see that," Kaori instantly replies as she manages to close their distance, "judging by the ink print on your cheek. Did you fell asleep again?"

Seiji backtracked, he then proceeds to wipe his left cheek clean off of any leftover words that resides. "Ah… shit, I'm so sorry. That must've looked so silly…"

"No worries, I wouldn't judge. You've been working yourself out, after all." Kaori reassuringly said. "That being said, how did you do on your test?"

That was when Seiji turned completely silent, almost as if the words had been stuck inside his throat. "I… I guess it could be better…"

"What's wrong?" Kaori asked him, "Your average score shouldn't be that bad."

"Well… considering how your average is 8 and mine is… well… 4… I think that would be an understatement." Seiji admitted. "I mean… I'm glad you got top three!"

Kaori merely shook her head. "That was nothing, I'm sure you scored better than—"

This time, Seiji was the one who seemed to be in denial. "Sorry, but, these are all bygones. And… I shouldn't really compare myself to others, you know?"

"Ah… right…" Kaori never knew what came over her. She can't believe she sounded so… desperate. "Anyways… m-maybe I could help you with anything?"

"T-that's okay, I—" Just before he finishes his sentence, a sudden phone call interrupted him. The both of them glanced at the vibrating pockets of his short pants, before exchanging disappointed glances. "Oh… oh, no, I… uh… I'll get back to you on that?"

"Sure." Her answer almost came immediately, but somehow, the tinge of pain in her chest seemed to have delayed her. "Good night, Seiji."

"Yeah…" Seiji said over his shoulder as he rushed downstairs to answer his phone call. "Good night, Kaori!"

The girl half-heartedly went back to her room, closing the door behind her as she hid behind the safe space of her own dorm. She almost wanted to thank/curse God for giving her absolute silence, the emotion that is tearing her apart had prevented her from thinking straight.

With a slouch, she lowered herself onto her own bed. Her eyes fell upon a small comical poster that she had stuck in front of her bed, its red fonts forging the word _The Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman_ gleamed under the moonlight that struck from her half open window curtains, a sudden feeling of hopelessness and nostalgia enveloped her as she tried to sleep.

The smell of lavender filled her nose as she hugged the blanket that was sprawled around her body, it comforted her. But… due to her teenage hormones and a head full of wild imaginations, a question came to mind.

" _I wonder what Seiji smells like…"_

And after that, she fell asleep. Completely brought into slumber.

* * *

 **U.A. Grounds - 15:15 a.m.**

* * *

The next day, Seiji could be seen sitting by the school yard, just next to running water fountain. There were other students from other classes running about, doing their own businesses, but Seiji himself was doing absolutely nothing in particular.

He sat across from Yato Shimura, a boy who, like him, isn't doing anything particularly special other than spending his time stuck with a mobile phone in his hands.

It seemed like they had been talking for a full fifteen minutes, their clothes were already drenched in sweat due to the hot weather caused by the yellow afternoon sun that spread above them. Even Yato managed to pause his mobile game just to fan his sticky underclothes that he wore under his uniform.

"So… how well did you do on your test, again?" Seiji started, eyes wandering towards the fountain, longing for the sweet cold embrace of comfort that reminded him of his bed.

Yato merely glanced sideways. "It was okay."

"Yeah?" Seiji rhetorically asked. "What's your average?"

"I've told you."

"You did?"

"Yeah."

"When?"

"We've had this conversation three times."

Seiji blinked. "Oh yeah…"

Silence filled the air; the sudden heavy atmosphere could be felt by both sides. It goes without question that this conversation wasn't actually going anywhere.

"Frankly, Seiji," Yato suddenly paused his game to look at Seiji straight in the eye, "is the hero course _really_ the only thing you should be aiming?"

Seiji raised his eyebrow at that. "Why not?"

Yato pursed his lips. "Well, there's still support courses, of course. But, I won't stop supporting you, regardless. It's just that you've been sounding pretty doubtful yourself."

"I have?"

"Yes." Yato nodded. "I'm not the one to talk, though. I myself is doubtful when it comes to my own future."

"How come?" Seiji asked back, he actually sounded genuinely interested. "You've already said that you were aiming to be a hero."

"I did," Yato confirmed, "and I'm not faltering from it."

"So… what's there to concern about?"

The boy in question merely tapped his finger against his chin. "Well, I don't really know where I'd end up, honestly. I wasn't just going to be any hero, you see, I've been trying to aim to be something more than just… a payable cause... it just doesn't feel right to be a hero for hire."

Seiji listened closely as Yato continued his story.

"I wasn't born into any criminal family. My father was a hero, a top ranking one at that, too." He told Seiji, there was a slight gleam of spite in his tone. "But he faltered from the path and became what he is today. I wanted to be better, you know? Be like someone who can actually match up to anyone's expectations."

"Like All Might?" Seiji thought out loud.

Nonetheless, Yato agreed with him. "It's no secret, really. Wouldn't you say the same?"

The other boy merely laughs. "Even if I did wish to be someone like him, I couldn't… And you know why…"

Yato said nothing, the boy felt like it wasn't his place to delve into something as personal as this. But he would be lying if he hadn't said that he was a little bit in disagreement. He actually _believed_ in Seiji to be someone who was more than just a dangerous walking time bomb ready to hurt anyone he can get close to.

But alas, Yato couldn't actually find the right words to put it. The boy beside him seemed like he was going to deny any praise that would came at his way. Perhaps the mock test results broke him worse than anyone else had?

"Regardless," He finally said, "there is no harm to try and study more and more."

"It's easy for you to say…" Seiji said with a light click of his tongue, "I mean… no offense, but, you had an ex-hero dad! I could never really remember the last time I went to school!"

"I can't say that I agree with you, though." Yato patronized. "You did better in heroics than I did. So that's proving something."

That still didn't seem to have brought Seiji's usual self, back from whatever depressed state he was currently in.

"I don't know, man…" Seiji anxiously said as he rested his head between his arms on top of the park table that splits them apart. "I feel like I'm not going anywhere at all, you get?"

Yato didn't know what to say, he had already decided to revert his own attention back to his game. But something inside his brain kept trying to say something.

But the two of them already noticed how they had about five minutes left before their class starts their last period, the other students had already gone back to their homes as well. With a sigh, Seiji lifted himself up from where he sat.

"I'm going back to class." He said to Yato, realizing that he should stop ignoring his hunger, feeling his stomach already growling from the lack of supplements.

"Yeah, sure." Yato nonchalantly responded, his eyes still stuck to his mobile screen and wasn't going to avert any time soon. "I'll be here for a while."

"You want me to leave Adachi a message or something?" Seiji asked with a scoff. "He just told all of us to gather in the classroom. He wouldn't like if someone skipped a meeting on the first day right after he went on a long work trip. And it sounded pretty important, too."

"The other classes are already on their way home anyway. But sure… I'll be around." Yato reassured him, giving the other boy a malicious smirk. It was a feat recognizable to most absentees of the class: an unknown ability to appear pretty much just in time before class starts. "You'll see."

Seiji actually couldn't deny that, he laughed. "I'll count on that, you know. I _am_ the class rep."

"Oh, I wouldn't even dream of ruining your reputation!" Yato sarcastically told him just as Seiji was already on his way out of the park.

With two of his hands hid inside both his pockets, Seiji entered the main building of U.A. High. He looked around, apathetically glancing at all the other students that had already packed up and were going that went his way, thinking to himself of all the things that could've happened if he had joined U.A. like how other people had normally did.

With a quick turn at a left corner, he dashed off to somewhere where he could be alone, finally taking a bite out of the little loaf of teriyaki bread that he had bought hours before school had started. He could imagine it still sitting somewhere on the inside of his desk, losing all of its savory meaty flavor that it hid between the yeasts.

" _I should really stop thinking about food."_ Seiji lowly thought to himself. Frowning upon the hungry boy that he became.

It's not long when he came out of the main building, taking a detour to his class through a much simpler path, he saw something unordinary right through the panels of the aquamarine glass from the building that he recognized as the one where the teacher's longue was located.

Two people came crashing out of the front door, and the much, much smaller one was the angriest of the both.

It was Jun Hamada, the one and only. It wasn't like seeing him on the edge of destroying something was a rare feat, but today, he was crying.

Seiji couldn't say that he wasn't at all uninterested, because god knows that seeing something that made even the homicidal Jun Hamada on the brink of tears was the utmost single thing on the universe that practically _everyone_ wanted to see.

Although… Seiji would be lying if he hadn't said that he was worried.

When another figure came to follow the shorter boy, Seiji couldn't help but to suddenly shout out his name. "Mr. Adachi!"

The lion-maned man, as he was hastily trying to catch up to Jun, looked frantic beyond belief. Almost as if Seiji was staring at a great man who was reduced to nothing more than a criminal filled with a shoulder-full of guilt. Because that was what he saw in Adachi, the moment the man came to his sight.

There was a slight tinge of anger in him, too. Enough to make a boy like Seiji to shiver in fear. It wasn't an understatement, if anything came to the sort, he was too thunder-stricken to move at all.

"Jun!" Adachi called out, ignoring Seiji, who was only mere yards away from him, completely. "Jun, please! Can you not do this in this in school grounds?!"

But much to Seiji's deathly painful curiosity, Jun merely ignored the man. His scowling lips, enough to kill any living being that unlucky have their eyes fall upon it, were sealed shut. Seiji had the brightest idea to slowly come up to one of them… well, the one who wasn't more likely to blow his head off in pure fury.

He couldn't really do anything, considering that nothing came to mind to help him react in these situations. And when his eyes accidentally, without him even knowing, fell upon Jun's own, he could've sworn that he had died.

Jun… seemed so… enraged. And that's saying something. Seiji didn't know how to put it, not when he himself didn't know what he was going through, but it would seem that he was in great pain… almost as if Jun had looked up to him as if he had _won_.

"W-what is going on…?" He breathed out, trying to forget all the hurt that surged through him the moment their eyes met.

"Not… now…" Adachi lowly growled. His left hand unknowingly tried to push Seiji away.

But the boy to his left merely followed him suit, even though the irritated look that scrunched up his face was an obvious sign for him to back away. His homeroom teacher was acting rather strange an unprofessional, even for Mr. Adachi: the man who would've rather die than to look unethical in front of others.

But the state that he was in, it said otherwise.

He kept calling, for the boy who was trying to gain more and more distance from him by stomping away at the concrete ground. It was a miracle that none of it shook and broke from a tremor.

Seiji, unnerved and confused, still did not know of what to do. At one hand, there was a great deal of responsibility eating him up from a sudden recollection of him being a class representative, but on the other, he felt like it's just wasn't his place to stick around in.

"Jun!" Adachi called again. "Jun, stop this!"

But it wasn't his callings that stopped him. It was merely because he had run into another student, someone much taller than him, too.

A streak of spiky blonde hit the shortest boy as the sun shone upon another look of angriness that filled the courtyard. Seiji felt a stray thought that could've been a disaster if known: maybe that newer face could rival Jun's own!

"What in the…" And, much to Seiji's surprise, the blonde's tone fit his face as well! "You're in the way, asswipe!"

Now this was more than just a shocking revelation. It had meant life and death itself!

Seiji had sworn that he was joking to himself when he said that the other male could've rivaled Jun in the terms of 'who's the better one at being the most ruthless'—and truth be told, the blonde that stood face to face against the earth-shaker was a looming definition of venomous, spiteful, and menacing—and that made him even more mad when he realized the possible destruction that these two can cause.

It was a matter of a Schrodinger's Cat, really. One boy was too emotional to do something, the other's capability of practically doing anything was limitless.

Just when the two became eye to eye, one homicidal maniac to the other homicidal maniac, a lush of green could be seen running towards them, screaming, "KACCHAN!"

Seiji couldn't guess who that was, his attention, much like Adachi's, had already stuck itself to the tension between the two students in front of them.

"I said move…" The blonde bared his fangs, sparks seemed to fly out of his hands, "… or die."

Jun did nothing, he only kept a levelled vision at the boy in front of him. Until a moment later, when it was Jun's turn to bare his own fangs, the ground began to shook, _violently_.

This level of power was… concentrated… Seiji had thought. He watched as the ground that circled them began to shake, and in turn, the concrete cracks until it suddenly tried to take a form of a crater. It was slowly rising, slowly taking place as a spiral that began to spread from under Jun's feet.

"HUH?!" The blonde reeled back in surprise, looking at the cracks on his feet, before summoning dozens of little explosions at the palm of his hands. "OH, SO THAT'S IT, HUH?! YOU WANNA GO, YOU WANNABE?!"

"Kacchan!" Said the newer student, standing just beside Seiji and Adachi as he tried to catch his breath. "Stop…! You can't… fight here!"

"Grrr… SHUT IT, DEKU!" The blonde named Kacchan barked at his familiar, before going back to Jun who, by the time the crater on his feet began to grow larger, was staring at someone else.

Adachi, filled with worry, anger, and confusion, had eyes suddenly fell upon him, and it looked _desperate_. Seiji didn't know any better, which is why he had no idea why Jun was taking his time focusing on his homeroom teacher than the opponent in front of him.

Perhaps… he wanted an audience. Perhaps… he was… lost…

Whatever it was, Jun never seemed like he had any intention to fight, at all. But whatever he looked like he wanted from Adachi, Seiji couldn't have known what.

"You think you can just fight your way to being a hero, _punk_?!" Kacchan jeered at Jun, who still had his face turned away. "I've heard of what you've done! SO, WHAT?! You think I'm not as strong as your old man?! You better think twice before you even try to challenge me, _Wannabe_!"

Jun said nothing, he didn't even make the effort to look Kacchan straight in the eye, not even when the explosive sparks that Kacchan fired from his right hand was making him flinch.

But then, Jun suddenly looked up, grey eyes dead and looking straight into Kacchan's red ones, the tears that once had seemingly resided in had now gone with the wind. "Keep your lousy hero course…" He said before turning the other cheek and walked away.

He was on his way somewhere else, Seiji thought, remembering that their class wasn't in the direction that Jun was going. And it seemed like the shorter boy was heading towards their dorms, his motive still yet remained unsolved.

But when Seiji looked back at Adachi, he was even more puzzled. Yet, Adachi's face had became gloomier by the second, almost as if he was enveloping himself in disappointment.

The blonde, or Kacchan, as the boy with green hair that hastily followed beside him had referred, merely walked away from the scene right after Jun was no longer to be seen considering that he had likely to disappear from sight.

"W-wait… Kacchaaan!" The green-ette cried out in agony as he trod alongside his… classmate.

Yet Kacchan merely returned his favor with a crude remark, "FUCK OFF, DEKU!"

Both Seiji and Adachi were left alone, under the darkening sky which signaled that the day was going to end sooner or later. But, even though today's problems were all supposed to be bygones, Seiji still had this looming feeling of doubt which told him that nothing was going to be normal anymore.

Not after what had happened.

Seiji felt like he could finally breathe out the air that had been stuck inside his chest, painfully stinging at the insides of his lungs trying to escape from the building tension that overwhelmed him, but no matter what he did, it seemed like the atmosphere was a tad bit too heavy to be relaxing just yet.

He shot a glance to the taller man beside him, the miserable look in his eyes only brought more discomfort towards the boy.

"I'm… so… sorry that you had to witness all of that, Seiji." Adachi finally said as he scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment.

"Well… sir, I do not mean to pry, or anything, but…" Seiji gulped, unsure if he should ask him, "what happened?"

Adachi said nothing, he merely sighed. "It's nothing worth your worrying, Seiji…"

But Seiji unknowingly scoffed. "I'm sorry, but, Jun had looked at me almost as if he was going to kill me but… he didn't. So, what's up with that?"

"Tell all your friends to go back to their dorms, Seiji. The meeting's dismissed." Adachi suddenly commanded him. And before Seiji could show any unwillingness, the homeroom teacher merely gave him a glare. "Now!"

"I—" The boy knew better than to fight back, "—yes, sir."

"Good." Adachi nodded. "Thank you, Seiji."

"I'll always be happy to help, sir!" Seiji reassured him, still not wanting to lose the ground that he had gained. "Just tell me if you ever need any help… sir…"

It was half-hearted, sure. But it was pure. And Seiji didn't want to take his words back, not even for the world. He knew his orders, and he was certainly going to follow them. But the haunting thought of a mournful even that would be befallen upon his class was still lingering inside his mind, and he felt like that was something he needed to consult Adachi with.

He left, for good, this time. And Adachi was the only one who was still trying to figure out what he was going to do as of now.

Just when Adachi was already on the brink of giving up, as he begun walking back towards the teacher's longue with his hands shamefully hidden inside of his pockets, he saw a familiar face at the corner of his eye.

The face was big, stone-jawed, and abnormally highlighted. It seemed almost comical, yet, in a way, so unusually full of hope. A giant smile took the center spot as the only compelling thing that the person had, other than the mountains of muscles growing from all over his body.

The man had hidden behind a supporting pillar, right next to the bushes that sat at the front of the entrance of the main building, he was crossing his arms in a very intimidating way. Adachi stiffened at the sight of him.

" **Quite the students that you got there, Mr. Adachi.** " The bulking man had laughed.

"Mr. All Might… sir… I-I didn't see you there." Adachi awkwardly responded as he tried to come up with the best smile that he had at the moment.

" **Don't be so stiff, Mr. Adachi!** " All Might heartily told him as he walked closer towards the other man. " **I never saw it to suit your person**."

"Ah… of course, sir." Adachi cleared his throat, unsure of what to say.

" **So?** " All Might started, looking down at the smaller male. " **Have you told him, yet?** "

"'H-him', sir?" Adachi raised his eyebrow.

" **Well… I was going to say your pupils, but… it seemed like you were pretty fond of that Jun Hamada boy, aren't you?** "

Adachi's shoulders seemed to have slumped. "I-it was a misunderstanding, sir. I mean… yes, I don't deny that—"

" **Come now, Mr. Adachi!** " All Might's voice suddenly became stern. " **We both know you don't have it in you to lie!** "

Adachi took a while to respond to that, it almost seemed like he didn't want to. But his professional side knew better than to act like a child and pretend that everything was okay. "Yes, I told him. And now you see what happened next." Adachi exasperatedly said, arms wide as if trying to beholden the chaos that he had created.

" **I had thought so**." All Might noddingly mumbled. " **Listen, Adachi. You are a great man, and your intentions are, by no means, impure…** "

"Yeah. That's what Nedzu told me." Adachi shot him down, waving his hand as if dismissing every compliment The Number 1 Hero gave him. "Look, I'll sort this out by morning. You won't have to worry about it, anymore, sir."

" **Me? Worry?** " All Might said aloud with a scoffing attitude. " **I wouldn't worry about a thing! Not when I know that these kids are in** _ **your**_ **safe hands!** "

Adachi said nothing, it was a miracle how his hard face could project such _boredom_. Almost as if he had heard of these a hundred times before.

" **That is to say,** " The bulking man continued, " **if you'd stop doubting your own power**."

"The school will take care of them the same way I did. Even better, if I should say!" Adachi told the man in front of him. Any ounce of doubtfulness that he had earlier had all but stayed.

But All Might merely chuckled. " **Maybe we shouldn't cancel my period with the class!** " He suggested.

Adachi only gave him a disbelieved stare. "Sir… you saw me dismissing the class not ten min—"

" **Then maybe I'll just visit their first period, tomorrow morning!** " All Might cut him off.

"But… why?"

All Might pondered for a second. " **Perhaps I can teach them a thing or two about doubting one's power in the middle of combat. Lord knows you need it, too.** "

"I can't… just cancel tomorrow's lessons!" Adachi yelled in disbelief.

All Might merely shrugged his shoulders. " **They'll get by somehow, I mean, you've already pushed them to their limits by giving the kids dozens upon dozens of tests each week! I wouldn't be surprised if they began reciting algebra the second the referee starts to ring the bell!** "

"It was a necessity…" Adachi, with all of his might, tried to explain. "The point of these academical lessons are to single out which child are better at which subject, for each their future are bleak and—"

" **Wow…** " All Might suddenly muttered under his breath, " **they weren't kidding when they said you were uptight.** "

"… I don't want the children to stray towards the wrong path." Adachi admitted. "I can't force them into something they don't want to be…"

" **True**." All Might said, still smiling ever so widely. " **But you do know what Hamada wanted to be, don't you?** "

Adachi said nothing.

" **And you just stripped that chance off of him, didn't you?** "

Again, Adachi said nothing.

" **Alright,** " All Might decided, turning his back to Mr. Adachi before going back to the main building, " **that settles it, then. Tomorrow I will come by your class to teach. Who knows? Maybe they'll be excited. Just let them know that I'm hoping to see much more of them in the future…** "

"… Sure…"

* * *

 **Monitoring Room -** **07:10 a.m.**

* * *

The next morning, Adachi did just that.

In the classroom, still brightly shined by the light of the new day's sun, the class had been gathered up like always. But when they had heard that Mr. Adachi had changed the meeting plans to today morning, none of them wanted to skip.

Not when they knew what kind of man Adachi would be the second he caught a name of an absentee.

But something else also made them more interested to join today's morning meeting, and it was the fact that Adachi had told them that All Might would be teaching the class for several whole periods until noon.

It became the talk of the class in one night. Some of them were wary in front of The Number 1 Hero and what he will think about a class that was made out of criminals and delinquents, a few others were practically nonchalant about the entire news and would pretty much just let the day run by itself until it was time to sleep, and the hotheaded rest had the brightest idea to try and strike down All Might the moment he walks through the door.

Much to their surprise, they weren't also taking today's attendance in their usual class, but in a large, fully operational rooms with monitors and controllers right next to what the school calls a 'Demolition Zone'.

The Zone was pretty much what you'd call a free-for-all fighting ring with enough acres to cover several dozen blocks. And some of them had even doubted that such structures existed.

From the monitors, right as they entered the monitoring room, they could see the view of the cameras that showed the abandoned life of the many artificial buildings and streets. To think that these were going to be destroyed by the Hero Course of U.A. made them realize how very _rich_ their school was.

"What do you think we're going to do?" Mori, leading the group on the front, asked curiously to Miyu, who trod by her side.

"I don't know…" Miyu shrugged, scoffing in the process. "They'll probably make us clean the whole town for the Hero Course to come destroy it again, I think."

"When Adachi said All Might's going to meet us," Kudou Satou asked for the umpteenth time, "is he saying that he will meet us in person, in a hologram, or is he going to project himself into our brains? And where would he come from? He probably has this HUUUGE helicopter, right? Cause he's a hero and all? Oh! He will probably, like, appear in our minds like a super buff telepath!"

Date Takehiro, as he stood beside the ever so clingy Kudou, hadn't remembered how many times he had asked God to kill him right where he stood. "Can somebody, like, get him a muzzle?! One more word comes out of his mouth, and _you'll_ be the one who gets it, Silverfish!" He pointed to the other boy beside him with a sharp jab.

Yato merely looked up to the bigger male in far than less interest. "And why me, if I could ask?"

"Because apparently Miss Bones here doesn't _conjure_ mouthpieces! I would've thought _you'd_ make a fine mouth plug." He said in a crude remark before earning a sharp look from Miyu, who was only given yet _another_ crude remark. "Yeah, I'm talking about you!"

"Please lower your voice, Date Takehiro." Mika suddenly scolded him with a seemingly robotic tone as she followed behind him. "It is unwise to speak in such a manner when facing a prominent individual, dozens of stratums above your own."

"Oooh, she just dissed you!" Tarasu Kobayashi suddenly wailed out, his sunken face while hidden under his greasy bangs gave an ear-to-ear smirk.

"What are you going to do about it, Takehiro." Oboro Kirikagure also piped in.

As the three males began to chatter rather loudly, the only one who wasn't grouped up like the others was Seiji Orimura himself. He was, if not too busy, too distracted on the absurdity of the size of the Demolition Zone the moment he laid eyes on it on the monitor screens.

He unknowingly whistled out loud. "I can't believe it…"

"Is it really that impressive?" A click of a tongue was heard from behind him, and when Seiji looked around, he saw himself looking face to face with Suki. "What else can we do here, anyway, other than to ogle around?" She asked with a sharp tone.

Seiji did not know what to say to her, considering how he, too, had no idea what The Number 1 Hero wanted with them in the first place.

Currently, his mind was also somewhere else. He was suddenly more focused in the only short male in the class, rather than anything else, actually. And when he tried to ask himself about it, he feared that he might just suddenly obtained a severe case of Stockholm syndrome.

Nevertheless, it was a miracle that Jun even showed up to this occasion, at all. If Seiji didn't know any better, he would've thought that Jun had ran out of the school long ago.

Suddenly, a booming voice brought him out of his musings.

" **GOOD MORNING, FELLOW CLASS OF U.A.!** " Said the owner of the voice, an extraordinarily bulking man that had seemingly came from a different door than where the class had come from.

Adachi had stepped aside, crossing his arms in an unimpressed manner as he watched the Pro Hero lead the class into whatever he was planning in the first place.

All Might, while wearing a business suit large enough to hug down all of his muscles while still retaining the shape. Some would say that it was kept together by magic.

His lightning blonde hair struck the class' faces with showers of golden from the sun that reflected off of whatever conditioner that he stuck on his head.

" **I HOPE YOU ALL ARE EXCITED FOR TODAY BECAUSE… FINALLY… AFTER MONTHS OF WAITING… ALL OF YOU MAY FINALLY START YOUR FIRST STEP TO THE PATH OF HEROES!** " He said as he bombarded the room with the highlights of his teeth.

There wasn't any cricket in the room, but… All Might could've sworn that he had heard one.

" **Tough crowd…** " He muttered before clearing his throat for another bombastic speech. " **WELL THEN, FUTURE HEROES! Now… you all might be wondering what we might do here. AND THE ANSWER IS SIMPLE!** "

And just when All Might pointed towards the screen, many of the monitor's view were suddenly changed into a still frame of a rather large rocket and a glowing blueprint of a building _and_ the rocket.

" **BATTLE TRIALS!** " All Might boomed. " **Yes, friends! It is time for you to finally fight together as a team! There will be four groups, with each group consists of three people! The challenge! ONE WILL DEFEND THAT ROCKET AS VILLAINS AND THE OTHER… TRIES TO NEUTRALIZE IT AS HEROES!** "

The class suddenly erupted in waves of mutters and excited noises. Seiji, too, was surprised by the enthusiasm shown by his own class.

"I can't wait to finally hit something!" Mori said with a feisty growl.

"Heroes versus villains, huh?" Tarasu muttered as he scanned the monitors. "This should be fun..."

" **Alright, alright,** " All Might piped in again, silencing the class once more, " **ANY QUESTIONS?** "

And then, in an instant, a hand shot up. From none other than Suki Takara. "Uh… Yeah… Can you tell me what impact is there to the future of the class, when none of us are either aren't born or isn't willing to be compatible with one another?"

The class all stared at her like she was just another mad woman, but Suki never faltered, she almost seemed confidence on her stance. "I mean… what makes you think that any of us are in any way… I don't know… _synchronized_? We have yet to battle as a team, and that one time with Mr. Adachi certainly doesn't count as we aren't fighting an unfamiliar enemy, and blindly at that, too. Actually… we aren't really that capable to come up with a strategy on the spot, are we? Also, is there really any way to find out how even our Quirks match?"

Seiji needed to say it… he was impressed. So _that_ was the doubt that he always had inside the back of his head. Suki, as blunt as she was, she seemed like she knew what she was talking about.

" **That is a good question, Miss Takara.** " All Might calmly answered her. " **You see, kids. In a whim, you wouldn't really count on yourself to try and take down a dozen more enemies, do you? Imagine a situation where the risks could be evaded, and lives could be spared, if** _ **people began working together**_ **. This is the point of our training as of today, for we will keep doubting ourselves of our own power, belittling any extraordinary talent we have, and what's the best way to show it? It is to rely on others, to know that the talent that they give, the support that you so desperately try to gain, isn't going to be in vain. This is what we are training ourselves for.** "

All Might began to walk into one corner of the room, an intricate machinery sat on the wall with a lever pointing up.

" **And for your next question,** " All Might added, reaching at the lever before pulling it down, " **that is what you need to find out for yourselves!** "

And, then, like an unwrapped gift box, the wall behind him began to turn. The mechanisms in the wall churned loudly as a giant wardrobe began to reveal itself from the flat wall that it came from. The class was awestruck, most of them couldn't have dreamt for something better:

Costumes.

Or, to be specific,

Hero costumes.

* * *

 **Saitama, Japan - 06:10 a.m.**

* * *

A Masked Man stood by the side of a building, the wind picked up his bright brunette hair with streaks of white exhibiting the olden age the man was in. With a quick turn of his head, he looked back towards the destruction that he caused.

A pitch black smoke, rising from the giant hole that descended towards none other than the Saitama Supermax Prison. Total chaos enveloped the whole building like a burning fire, because that was exactly what was happening with the courtyard that stretched almost infinitely from the height that the man was on. There were also sights to be seen: towering buildings all around him like a walled land filled with nothing but borders made out of skyscrapers, the vast forest that circled around the prison, and the ever so existing desperation that filled his eyes.

He sneered in disgust at the smell of burning bodies oozing out from the hole that he made earlier, he hated such filth.

That was why, on his right hand, he held on to a prison guard. Still alive and begging for mercy.

"P-please... d-don't kill m-me..." The Prison Guard cried with his voice stuck inside his throat, which was held by the gloved hand of the Masked Man.

The Masked Man, with just a little ease, raised the Guard just above eye level, making the Guard stare deep into his bloodshot eye at the only open slit on his mask.

But today, his eyes had shown mercy.

"You've told me all I needed to know..." The Masked Man told him, his voice rough yet soothing on some level. "Do not worry, I will not kill you."

The Prison Guard, still shivering in fear and wary, said nothing as he was still being held by the neck.

"I will let gravity to do it for me." The Masked Man added.

And just when he wanted it, the pathetic wails of the Prison Guard caressed at the innards of his ears, even more so when he screamed for his life as he fell at 30 meters to his death. Oh, it was such a shame the Masked Man could not hear his body go 'splat!'.

He began to remember his reason, the longing that he had in which it was the only motive that he had on why he was doing all of these cruel things.

"My son," He mutters out to the open air, "I have found you..."

* * *

 **Aaaaaaaaaaaand, scene...**

 **Alright, that took longer than I expected, so sorry about that. But I'm also kind of glad that this one didn't turned out to be 10k+ words or something. It made it easier to get my point through when writing. Again, I am so sorry for the lack of updates.**

 **And... I haven't said this before but thank you all for you feedback to my drawings in DA, I can't be any happier. I will try to draw more, as I would be honored to show more. Thank you guys so much. You can watch me on DA too, if you'd like.**

 **On another note, I've began writing two more stories, too. But I will be focusing on this one, rest assured.**

 **Anyways, thanks for reading, please review on what you think.**

 **Peace out.**

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

 **Seiji couldn't believe his luck... or unluckiness...** **Not only had he finally been able to try his chances on becoming a hero... he has to be teamed up with the one who hates him the most...**

 **Suki Takara seemed stoic and crude on the outside, but have we gotten to see what she is like when push comes to shove?**

 **Kaori has to make a decision: save the rocket, or save her teammates.**

 **Who will win against who in an all new action-packed chapter of My Hero Academia : Delinquents Class! Coming soon!**

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

 **R &R**


	10. Battle Trial! (part 1)

**Monitoring Room -** **07:12 a.m.**

* * *

Life comes at you in an interesting way, Seiji pondered to himself.

One second, there he was, mourning over himself for the umpteenth time in the span of two days after since he had gotten his mock exam results, reminiscing upon the pathetic example of a high school student he was. And then, there he was, staring at his own self-made hero costume.

Once he stepped closer onto the gigantic mechanical wardrobe that had suddenly came out of nowhere, he could already tell his own self-designed costume. Almost like looking at his own baby.

He, as well as everyone else, had remembered the last time they were asked for a costume design. It was given as a formal lesson, where each children were given about an hour to come up with a design best suited for their Quirks. Seiji had recalled that it was months ago, he had almost forgotten about it by an hour ago.

He held it in his arms, the hanger end still protruding from the neck hole, the bright color of white decorates the chest area while the shoulders and sleeves were as bright as yellow with a mark of a crash test dummy printed on the side of its sleeves. The two different shades of color showed the simple yet deep design similar to that of a crash test dummy.

It was a plain black and yellow t-shirt, but he shall treat it like it was the most precious thing in the room. He glanced at the rest of his costume, sitting below the hanger line that used to hang his clothes, a sudden feeling of ecstasy overjoyed him.

He couldn't picture himself wearing all of this, not even the baggy cargo shorts completed with a utility belt and zipper boots. All his life spent in U.A had finally paid off when he realized the first simulated battle that he will partake in. This might be the time where he could finally show his worth; if not in academics, then, where else?

And it seemed like he wasn't the only one who had been looking forward to this battle trial. Everyone else were up in the seventh heaven, much to his surprise, as they began checking out their own professionally made costumes.

"This is amazing!" Mori cried aloud, her costume was displayed on a full mannequin due to the fact that it was more of a full armor rather than a costume. "I've been waiting for this for _months_!"

She couldn't actually look straight at the suit much to her own chagrin from squealing like an easily overjoyed high school girl. But the lights from atop the monitoring room bounced off the metallic silvery-purple hue from the twin bowl shaped gardbrace, and down toward the sabatons of its feet.

But, unlike regular armors, Mori's costume had a lot of openings which was filled with white cloth-wear, one of them were the bottom part of the torso right under the chestplate, her upper arms, and lastly, her lower legs. A good way for keeping her agility intact.

The feeling was bittersweet, Seiji thought as he could see the many others that also had a bright gleam in their eyes as they began to check out their costumes with high interest. Many of which had a better designer than he did.

A good example of this was none other than Kaori Tsukinose herself. Her own hero costume was being held by herself right in front of her own uniform, checking the precise size of her costume.

"That's pretty cool." Seiji remarked as he got up to her without a second thought. "Makes you look like a ninja assassin!"

He wasn't lying. In fact, he was pretty blunt about it, too. Kaori' s costume looked nothing like the average hero costume due to the fact that it lacked a wide variety of colors to stand out in public as it was wrapped in the dark of the night, and to make it more conspicuous, he couldn't see any obvious armor other than the paddings on both her ankles and elbows.

Kaori seemed to retract herself from his compliment, holding the costume just above her mouth. "… I-it's relatively nothing. My father designed it for me, as they would be, thinking nothing more than the right kind of costume I should need in case of any… er… circumstances…"

"What are you talking about?" Another voice came into hearing, right before a lipless face popped out from behind Kaori's shoulder. "At least your parents _bother_ to make one for you. Look at mine!"

And at that moment, both Kaori and Seiji's eyes fell upon the sight of a black strapless bra being held by Miyu Yakushi. "Sucks being the one to have any bones to protrude from _any_ part of your body, amiright? Well… it's mostly Pa's fault too for suggesting my costume to be _a little bit exposed_."

Seiji's face seemed to have flushed a bit, he never had the bravery to look straight ahead into what can be identified as lingerie. But he had to ponder on whether or not that perhaps Miyu' s Quirk did took a toll on her clothing several times before. Not that Seiji wanted to see it, of course.

Speaking of costumes, he hadn't realized how so many of his close friends still had their parents caring for them. The last time he remembered, he was in a reformation school for villainous children. From birth and otherwise.

Much to his curiosity, he had unknowingly stared too long at Miyu's strapless bra. Earning both a chuckle and a puzzled glare from both Miyu and Kaori.

"Is it really that much of a sightsee for you?" Miyu said with a playful snark.

"W-what?! N-no, of course, not!" Seiji said as he waved both his hands in front of him in a panic. "I was just surprised that the two of you had such caring parents! I don't mean to jump into conclusions, but, it sounded like the both of you had already been supported by your old man…"

The two girls exchanged glances, almost as if they knew otherwise.

Seiji suddenly reeled back, thinking that he had said something wrong. "Sorry, I… uh… I was just surprised, that's all. Are you really not born from a villain?"

Miyu was the one who responded to him first, and she did it with a laugh. "I never really was born from a villainous family, if I may look like it. Sure, I did some questionable things but I was just a juvie."

"I… my heritage is villainous in nature but my parents never really was single minded with the elders. Though, I'd like to think that my ancestry is the reason that I was recommended to be here." Kaori explained. "But… I understand if we might stand like the rest due to the fact that the larger number seemed to come from villains."

"Although, that's a pretty short-sighted way of putting it, Orimura." Miyu suddenly said, putting a hand on her hip. "Do we _really_ look that much of a pair of bad guys to you? Didn't _you_ came from a convenience store?"

"Yea.. N-no, I would never!" Seiji was quick to deny it, but the last words were caught in his throat. _"I just thought… I mean… I would've thought that I was—"_

"Fishing for attention, Yakushi?" Came a taunt that had bought them out of their original conversation.

Suki Takara has chose the best time to barge herself in as well as seemingly being busy examining her own costume. The other girl merely gave Miyu a look of disapproval when she glanced past her shoulder.

"I would've thought that _you_ were the mature one." Suki commented, lifting her hanged costume off of the racks. It was unknown whether or not she really meant that, but Seiji knew Miyu would take it as the worst insult anyone could have ever given her.

"Back off, Takara." Miyu harshly remarked. "Why don't you find someplace else to shove your giant breasts in? God knows you've taken enough space already."

Suki said nothing, but her sharpened gaze penetrated any barrier of safe haven that had existed beforehand. Seiji wanted nothing at all to do with the both of them, not when they were already too deep in a homicidal soup brewed by an intense fiery flames of wrath.

He should, however, try to say something… was what he thought. But Kaori seemed to have beat him to it.

"Hey now…" She started with a smile, raising her hand to calm the situation down, "we shouldn't be fighting in a teamwork-based activity—"

"Quite so!" Suki responded with a sly grin, hiding behind a haughty glare, almost as if she was being overly sarcastic. "How did you put it? Hmm? 'Effective progressiveness'?"

Kaori's face flushed, she subconsciously tightened her hands to curled fist, whitening her knuckles in pure shock. She couldn't look beside her, not towards Seiji. Not when she had the slightest chance of betraying Seiji's expectations of her.

Suki made a harrumphing noise, before she reached down towards her hero boots and other seemingly costume-related accessories. She hastily picked up the rest of her costumes, even what seemed to be a top hat, only to stubbornly filled her arms to the edge of spilling all of her clothes.

Seiji instinctively tried to give a helping hand, reaching out towards her dangling clothes to keep it from falling. "Er… maybe you shouldn't carry all of that—"

"Don't touch me!" The girl snapped, shoving her arm towards Seiji's incoming grasp. She gave him a look full of hatred and fury, glowing a bright hue of purple, with eyebrows furrowing in great abhorrence.

Her costume spilled onto the floor, limply laying by the feet of their owner. She didn't bother to pick all of it up, though. He eyes were already dead set on the boy in front of her. The other occupants in the room, or at least, those who were near, paid a glance at the scowling girl in a fretting way.

The boy reeled back, unknowing of how to respond. Even in his greatest fears he wouldn't think of being loathed by someone he didn't know thoroughly.

"I don't need you to patronize me, Orimura." Suki barked lowly, raising her chin as in trying to gain superiority. Then, she suddenly gave Kaori a piece of her mind, as well. "Neither of you have any rights to control me! Especially _you_ , Tsukinose! I don't need either of you, you got that?!"

She bent down, picking up her fallen costumes, before she stomped away towards the dressing room to wait for their next instructions. The monitoring room became silent for a moment, but immediately went back to the busy mess of students admiring their handiwork.

Seiji sighed before he bid both his female friends a farewell as he went to the changing room to try on his costume. He tried not to think much of what had just happened, considering how today's activity should be left well alone from any distractions.

He nodded to himself in agreement with his own self. This _was_ a teamwork based activity, after all. He needed to give his best and try to help his teammates without any disregards.

Yes.

It was his big day after all.

Absolutely nothing shall ruin it.

* * *

 **Battle Simulation Field -** **07:20 a.m.**

* * *

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I'M TEAMED UP WITH JUN HAMADA?!"

Kaori pinched the bridge of her nose in absolute stress, she seemed to be in much more of an irritable state.

"I don't know, okay?!" She did with a rather annoyed tone. "It was All Might's idea!"

The both of them stood under the early morning sun, still shining above their heads in an exceptionally bright day with less than several clouds around. The summer weather surely was a pain to the both of them considering how they stood in an opening right in the center of an artificially made city, in front of a giant simulation building.

While all of them are already in their own costume, the two of them were yards apart from the rest of their classmates. This is mainly because the Number 1 Pro Hero All Might had split the class by four, making each group consisting of three people.

And, by some luck, Seiji had to be grouped up with Kaori (which he was partly thankful) and Jun.

But the shorter boy was nowhere to be seen.

"Kirikagure," someone said from the distance, "I see that we'll be fighting together."

Yato came up to Oboro with a half-smile, his costume had a skintight armor to it, decorated with several holsters that strapped around his body including his waist and shoulders. But the center of the spotlight was actually shown from the patterns sewn symmetrically from his shoulder down as a single path towards the back of his hands; at first glance it would seem like silver-ish polkadots, but they were actually thin, built in circulating systems to easily let his powers flow out of his suit, or so Yato told. His pants were a different story, almost as if it was worlds apart from the body wear. They were simply black skinny jeans with loose ends, fitting in terms of style and color with his boots and gloves.

Oboro, only returned his gesture with a blow of smoke from the corner of his mouth. He rubbed the back of his head in boredom, almost as if he'd rather be anywhere than here.

"Aaah… I should've ordered something more suiting for my Quirk…" He moaned in an exasperated tone, lifting the hem of his oversized sleeves in a disappointed way.

"Ah, I see." Yato commented. "But, if I may, the designers sure gave a whole lot of thought into it."

It was true. Oboro's costume design looked way more like a wizard's robe rather than a heroic costume. The robe, white in color with grey embroideries sewn on each hem, was fitted with a hood and inside it, a high collared tunic—grey in color—before it was wrapped with together with a double leather belt right on top of the waist, acting as both a band and a holder for little metal cans. On his legs, he was wore something similar to Yato's, except that his was colored white with many tubular metallic objects protruding out of his thighs down to his shins, hollow in nature and a perfect way to circulate his gas. His boots were also fairly smaller than his companion's, almost like his was built for stealth.

But Oboro seemed less than pleased. He kept trying to shake his way out of his slim pants every few seconds.

"I don't like it." Oboro said with a click of a tongue. "I don't feel like I'm moving freely at all!"

Truth be told, however, most people would be impressed with the designer's work. If anyone were to add a gas mask, per se, he would look more like a post apocalyptic survivor, wandering around the dystopian world in a white gothic fashion.

Yato merely shrugged as his response. "If it works rather well, I wouldn't complain."

"It's easy for you to say." Oboro jeered. "Your Quirk doesn't involve running around in the smoke without being able to make a sound."

"… We have basically the same affinity."

"I ain't your brother."

"Oboro Kirikagure, Yato Shimura," Called a voice from beside them, it was none other than cybernetic girl Mika Tatsuya, "Mr. Hisaki Adachi has informed us all to gather promptly. I advise that we do not falter from our newer task. I, for one, do not wish to miss our first significant heroic activity, as well as testing Mr. Hisaki Adachi's patience."

She, for one, wore something entirely different from the rest of the class. Her hero suit was only a leotard, with only one out of each of her limbs concealed under the silvery-bluish rubber substance. Everyone could see clearly how her metallic side operated, gleaming beautifully with dozens of bright blue wires glowing and running around her right side, while the other—humane—side of her body was concealed by her suit. The costume was, frankly, skintight, as it showed her not yet matured 15 year old body. Whether it was due to her Quirk that she looked quite younger than the rest of her female friends, none of them here knew.

She was, by definition: youth. The purest form (or impurest) there was.

"Yeah, yeah," Oboro waved her off arrogantly, ignoring her chastise, "whatever you say, Tatsuya-sama."

"Please be quick about it." She said coldly.

To which, Yato gave a blank stare. "Is there something wrong, Mika?"

Both the boys knew that Mika was, frankly, too complex to understand a simple sarcastic remark. As it was better shown on the tilt of her head. But she would eventually came to not thinking about it too much, as t wasn't seemed to be programmed into her in the first place. But she seemed somewhat off, today.

Maybe it was because of her constant downwards gaze or her complete and utter coldness in her tone at every time she spoke.

"Whatever have you meant by that statement, Yato Shimura?" The cyborg girl tilted her head, her thin eyebrows seemed to be furrowing. "Isn't it our obligations to follow the teacher—"

"Yes, but…" Yato cut her off, before he eventually shook it off. "N-nothing… you're right. Let's get."

Mika couldn't be more confused, but she also couldn't find it in her own programming to care much. Eventually, she followed suit.

Meanwhile, back at Seiji's and Kaori's group, the two of them hadn't even noticed Jun Hamada anywhere.

Kaori and Seiji exchanges glances, looking at how the rest of the class had already assembled with Adachi and All Might, they sighed altogether.

"Alright, Seiji," the rave-haired girl started in a sort of a hissy whisper, "I'll try to talk to All Might and Mr. Adachi about it. Maybe… they'll have second thoughts and—"

"No." Seiji cut her off, his face paling. "We… don't have much of a choice, Kaori."

Seiji wouldn't say that he hated Jun, not in a way that everyone else did, at least. He always felt that the short boy was misunderstood, even more so when he showed such relationship between Mr. Adachi. Seiji wasn't oblivious, he knew that Adachi was the kind to dot over any student he has, but even so, when it came to Jun, Seiji just couldn't help but to notice something different.

However, it didn't take long for Seiji to feel quite… irritated.

Maybe it started about months ago. When he first slept under one roof with Jun Hamada. There was moments when he would disappear, only to be found later on to be discussing something with Mr. Adachi. And when Seiji tried to ask about it, he would always find himself verbally abused.

But then, months after, right when Seiji was starting to slowly succumb to the mutual feeling of distraught, ready to start the day fresh like he had been doing for months after meeting the boy, Jun Hamada came to light as a haunting thought that filled his head the night he saw eye to eye with the eldritch horror.

It was true. Seiji was worried to death. And when he recollected at the moment when he saw Jun Hamada's eyes filled to the brim with tears (whether that was just the afternoon sun playing tricks on him or the utter lack of nourishments in which he had skipped hours prior to the event, he didn't know), something terrified him even more.

He would know when was the last time he had saw the vexed boy in a state of emotion other than the enraged, irritated form that Jun had always been. And the information came as good as _nothing_.

But then again, he felt as if it was someplace that he shouldn't be meddling about… Considering how Adachi—based on how he had looked that day—and Jun had a relationship Seiji had no clue about nor ever wanted to care about. Because, frankly, he felt like stepping a foot out of bounds would've been a death flag.

Nonetheless, he didn't wanted to risk losing his teamwork score just for the sake of being _nice_. Furthermore, if keeping his head intact _really_ meant not trying to establish equal ground with Jun, then he'd probably risk doing it.

Besides, beyond his boundaries or not, Jun was a _problem_ to the class and its relationship. And he wanted to know _why_.

"Like it or not, we're stuck with him." Seiji told Kaori, and he meant that in the most sincere way. "Come on, we shouldn't keep Adachi waiting. And… well.. you won't know!"

Yet Kaori seemed displeased. "But, Seiji…"

The boy merely glanced past his shoulder, towards his other classmates. "Let's just go, okay? Come on, we don't got much time left."

His friend finally came to an agreement. Together, they grouped up with the rest of the class to await for their next instructions. Yet still, Jun Hamada was nowhere to be seen.

As they finally got alongside the rest of the class, cramping themselves into the crowd trying to get the best view of the two teachers up front. From the back, both Seiji and Kaori could make out the figure of a wild haired man, almost resembling something of a short mane of a male lion, whilst shimmered under the sun in a viridian-greenish light.

Mr. Adachi seemed twice more intimidating today, his stature and position made his figure appear twice more bigger than the artificial city behind him. He wore one of his best suits, fitted with a tie and Oxford shoes, but the sight was quite normal for the class to see. Regardless, something about his downwards forlorn glare made the atmosphere quite heavy and tense.

Beside him stood All Might, reaching more than half the size of Mr. Adachi, the number 1 Pro hero was evidently the biggest individual in the area. And, considering how tall and lean Mr. Adachi was, it was quite the shock to see someone quite larger than him.

As the class gathered around, waiting impatiently for whatever the two teachers had to say to them before their first activity starts. Some even had to bite their nails in anticipation.

Seiji, however, felt like something had made the hair on the back of his neck to rise in fear. He looked around the crowd, both in wary and in confusion. And then, by chance, he caught a glimpse of dark brunette hair between the many other students.

His eyes widened, he had finally caught the sight of Jun Hamada. In his heart, he had the looming thought of trying to shorten their distances, but his mind said otherwise.

Jun was there, already in his costume as well. And by the looks of it, he hadn't had his mood to be brightened by a long shot. Seiji had to stand by the tip of his toes to just peek a glance at his face, and not only had he caught a glimpse of Jun's own costume, he could see him twiddling his fingers— while clothed in something like a full metal glove— in an awkward way. Yet his face, still possessing that fixed scourging scowl, was hidden under his thick bangs as he gave a downwards gaze.

Something was wrong.

Seiji could feel it, yet… he was torn. Should he do what any good friend would do? Or just leave him be?

"That looks like all of them." Adachi said from up front, hands tying behind his back.

All Might glances from beside him, his smile ever so powerfully intimidating. With a quick puff of his chest, he placed both his curled up fists on his hips. " **GOOD MORNING, CLASS!** "

He cleared his throat, feeling himself rather anxious to be faced with as large group of kids; ones with troubled pasts, and questionable mental complexes at that, too.

But, he would be lying if he hadn't said that he was mildly interested. He couldn't remember the last time he tried to take down a juvenile villain, because he simply didn't wanted to… not again. Seeing this decision to be made by the school… it was quite a development in society, in a good way.

When he first heard about it, there wasn't anything that he could do but to accept to run the program; he felt like he was obliged to do it. As a number 1 Pro hero, shouldn't it be his responsibility to become a good example or children?

Frankly, he was afraid of this occasion, because he couldn't really think of any good things to say to these children. They were trying to reform, so he had thought that he might as well did it like he had taught the Hero Courses. Or maybe...

" **As you all know… today is a special occasion for us all! I am really glad to see all of you becoming heroes in the future. And not only that! As today is your first step in reaching your dreams, I will be here to supervise you all!** " He told them with a smile.

Adachi merely said nothing, yet his cold stare filled all the empty spaces that should've been filled with encouraging words.

All Might cleared his throat before he pointed his beefy hands towards the entrance of the artificial city. " **Once you've entered that simulation zone, I expect teamwork! Integrity! The core essences of heroism! I expect none of you to fail me on your first day of being taught under me! Now before we start… I'd like to say a few things about the area that you're going to be fighting in. All of you know that the rocket that's going to be safeguarded by the villain is placed inside a building, there's absolutely no rule of it to be there at all! Yes! The whole city is your battlefield!** "

The sudden change of plans should be just enough to match with their fighting styles: open field, no boundaries, and many, many destructive hazards.

He moved on towards his next subject, and he did it by pulling out a little smartphone from under his suit. He seemed to be smiling gleefully as he began tapping onto the screen. _"I'm so glad I've bought this new smartphone! Kids these days have so many new features on their hands!"_ He giggled inside his head.

He went on to open an app, a lottery simulator at that, too. " **Alright class! As you have all know which team you are on, it's time to spin the wheel and see who gets to fight who!** "

Moments passed as the virtual wheel spun inside All Might's smartphone screen, before a light ding came from the underside of his phone. Everyone waited as All Might was seemingly taking his time joyfully tapping at his screen.

" **ALRIGHT!** " All Might suddenly shouted. " **AS FOR OUR FIRST MATCH… TEAM B, ACTING AS VILLAINS, SHALL GO AGAINST TEAM C, WHO IN TURN WILL ACT AS HEROES!** "

Amidst the crowd, Seiji turned to Kaori who had the same look of shock as him.

"We're Team C, aren't we?" Seiji asked her, who merely nodded in return.

"Guess this is as good as ever." Kaori told him. "If you want us to back out, then I'll just—"

"No." Seiji said sternly, only to backtrack right after. "I-I mean… I can handle it as long as you're alright with it…"

Seiji didn't want to say it, but he felt like there was something going on between her and Jun. Not that there wasn't something between Jun and everyone else, though he did feel something in the way Kaori looked at him in worry when they brought up Jun Hamada's name. The last thing he wanted was for their team to break apart, just because of one unstable boy.

He somehow felt responsible, in the least. He should be at least try to make the both of them cheered up for the activity. God knows he was until teacher's announced their teams.

Kaori pursed her lips. "But… well… I guess I'm alright with it."

"Good." Seiji nodded, while scratching the back of his head. "I-I'll go talk to him about our match…"

"… I'll do it."

His eyes widened. "A-are you sure?"

"Well… if he is what you say he is, I don't know why not." Kaori simply said, shrugging hesitantly.

The both of them exchanged glances before finally looking at the boy in question.

There he was, standing by himself; staring a forlorn gaze at Mr. Adachi.

Kaori then whispered into Seiji's ear. "I think we should leave him be for a while."

The boy merely sighed, before he started to look around. "Okay, so… who are we supposed to be fighting?"

Kaori immediately pointed behind him, at which he began to avert his eyes to another group of three. And then, a chill went down their spine.

A lumbering boy, standing higher than most of them, was one of their opponents: Date Takehiro. The other, while still holding onto his hunched back, was easily one of the most dangerous person around: Tarasu Kobayashi. And lastly, while she was the least of Seiji and Kaori's problem, her Quirk was the most dangerous by far: Suki Takara.

" _We're doomed…"_ Seiji thought to himself, slouching on where he stood.

* * *

 **Battle Simulation Field -** **07:30 a.m.**

* * *

The first thing Seiji knew about teamwork based activities was that nobody actually really did the teamwork part. They were all too focused on getting to their believed vantage points to gain the upper hand all to themselves rather than actually helping their fellow teammates.

Maybe it was because of the fact that activities like this were supposed to be friendly and educational, with the gain to be received taken as a form of experience in what it actually felt like to be working with other people.

For one, Seiji's only knowledge about teamwork was carrying packages of beverage from the truck and onto the shelves back when he worked in the convenience store. But something like simulating a battle against villains were something else.

Sure, he got into fights often with lowly gangs from his old apartment street, but it's not like he was gaining the upper hand. He didn't even know how to strategize properly against an opponent.

But alas, what else could he do but to rely on—at least one of—his friends.

They stopped by the entrance of the building, shielded by a large concrete wall just under the level of the front door. The atmosphere of the artificial city sure was alien, as there was no signs of life that could be seen anywhere in the area, or at least for miles to come. The building itself was looking almost dead as visible rusting beams protruded from the tenth floor and rising, like an unfinished construction work.

Seiji could also see how he and his team's location had quite the distance between them, yet the sheer sight of the building from where they hid was no joke. Thank god they had earpieces to communicate with ease.

The sun was unnaturally hot, and it took a toll on one of their costumes due to the fact that it was pitch black in color and, to make matters warmer, wrapped around most part of the body. Luckily for Seiji, he only wore something that was adequate to the weather considering his thin layer of printed t-shirt and short baggy pants.

"Should we split up and attack from different vantage points?" Kaori asked from behind him, she was sweating profusely due to her outfit.

"I think we shouldn't be so hasty." Seiji warned her before he took a step closer to her.

He gulped, trying to think of a good strategy. "Alright… here's how it's going to go down: they might try to catch us off guard by attacking all at once, so I suggest that we take that chance as a way to try and get a path towards the rocket."

Kaori brought a finger up to her chin. "They wouldn't try to risk destroying the building, one of what we're dealing with is a human train, after all. And besides, I don't think the building can take that much damage."

"Then… maybe they would try to attack us in an open field?" Seiji thought out loud.

Kaori merely shook her head. "Even though Date might have a disadvantage in a tight space, Tarasu doesn't have any problems with it. I think they might try to break us off in their vantage points, we won't have much of a choice once that happens. The building's blueprint is also quite large, it would take some time before we could locate the bomb."

But before Seiji could respond, he saw something behind her. Jun Hamada, once was silent the whole trip to the building, stood up from where he crouched as he began eyeing the building. He was still silent, and Seiji could not look at his eyes due to the ever messy bangs that covered them.

"Jun, what are you doing?" Seiji tried to ask, looking at the direction the other male was.

Jun wore what was essentially the most fashionable out of the bunch with a scarlet red over coat long enough to reach the back of his ankles, black body armor with metallic outlines of his chest, and slim black pants that seemed to hug the shape of his legs, not to mention the spiked pads on his knees, shoulders, and elbows. Three buckled belts in a column, each wrapping June's upper, middle, and bottom torso. Two pairs of gauntlets, blunt on the knuckles yet lined with short fur at the edge of his arm guards. And lastly, a mask, hanging by his last belt, with the appearance of a gas mask with crimson red eyes and tubular holes protruding out of each cheek, gleaming in silver.

"Tch… what a fucking waste of time…" Jun muttered with a scowl, his eyes began to scan the building from every nook and cranny.

"Sit down!" Kaori suddenly snapped with an icy tone, it was unlikely for her to do so. "We don't want ourselves to be caught in the open!"

But Jun said nothing as he kept on scanning the buildings around him in a suspicious way.

Kaori's mouth was already half-opened, trying to scold him for the last time, before her eyes widened at the feeling of a tremor under her feet. "JUN WAIT—"

And before they knew it, Jun had leaped out of where they hid before landing at a certain building near their destination, the aftershocks of his Quirk could still be felt. The mark where he had last stood was now left with a small crater, just like how he was going leave one before leaping again.

It was already proven how Jun's ability in mastering the flow of transversal waves was strengthened to the point where it gave him kinetic energy, but both Kaori and Seiji could not believe how Jun's power could be so convenient.

He finally landed on a beam just several yards near the entrance of the mall, looking down on the view of from above. Kaori wasted no time to follow him.

The girl, dressed in skintight black body armor, gritted her teeth. She turned to her other companion with furrowed brows. "Come one! We can't risk being split apart!"

She immediately stood from where she hid, pulled out a single throwing knife from her utility belt, and threw it as far as she could towards Jun.

Just as the knife flew beside Jun's head who, by the time Seiji was forced to take Kaori's hand before the both of them teleported, was already crouching down on a metal beam. Seiji and Kaori landed wit a thud, the knife that had once been there before had now took the place of the two.

Seiji, however, hadn't took the whole trip disappearing and reappearing too well. "Ugh… I feel sick…"

"Sorry…" Kaori mumbled by his side, helping him get up to his feet. "That usually happens…"

The three of them now stood side by side on a single rusting beam, staring at the distance towards their designated building. But what shocked them the most was that, rather than any ordinary building, they were looking at an abandoned mall. Or at least that was the case considering nobody had ever seemed to own it as what it was.

The could make out the floors and the entrances to different rooms through the gigantic gap in the broken concrete ceiling from where they stood. The metallic beam that they stood on seemed to be one of the hundred more protruding beams that were once used as a foundation for the unfinished mall.

From this height, they could see everything, yet they couldn't spot their target rocket anywhere.

"This is a pretty good lookout point." Seiji tried to ease his nerves, holding his hips with both hands while he enjoyed the wind from their height. Then, he turned to Kaori, "There's no time limit is there?"

"We have a whole three periods of class used for this activity," She explained, "so I suppose we have about an hour or so before the next match."

"Well… we should try to think about what we want to do then—"

A scoff broke out, cutting him mid sentence. "Yeah… here's an idea: how about you two back off and let _me_ do the work…"

The both of them stared at the boy in incredulity. But it was Kaori who spoke first. "What's wrong with you? We're supposed to act as a team and think before acting hastily."

"Oh… really?" Jun suddenly barked at her in a hurtful sarcastic way, he sneered at her before stomping a foot in front of her. "Aren't we supposed to be aiming for an ' _effective progressiveness_ '? Oh! Oh! Or maybe… we should follow some sort of a stupid plan that comes out of your mouth?!"

"Jun, I—!" Kaori cannot fight back, whatever she was going to say was caught in her throat when the metal beam that they stood on suddenly shook violently for a whole second.

But Jun merely gave them a single blank gaze from his only visible eye. There was no horrid scowl to be found splattered on his face, but merely a pale unending pitiful look full of hopelessness and anger. Seiji could see a spark in his eye, the second their eyes met, almost as if Jun was abashed before turning his head away and crouched.

With another leap, one where he activated his Quirk once more to gain distance towards his designated floor level, Jun left the beam of metal to violently shake, making both of his companions to try and hang on to their lives.

Seiji had almost lost his balance and fall, only to be caught by the arm by Kaori; once more was he saved by someone else. The beam was still shaking, creating a vibrating noise at both of its conjunctive ends.

"T-Thanks…" The boy said in a shaky tone, but the girl next to him seemed to be in more of a troubled than he was.

Kaori immediately regained her footing, her eyes still watching Jun Hamada from the distance. Her gaze turned to be casted downwards, the same forlorn look that Jun had could be found on her face, yet Seiji could actually feel the danger radiating off of her.

She wasn't quite the same the moment she had been out in the same group as Jun.

"That idiot…" Kaori cursed under her breath, her hand reaching towards her knife pocket, ready for another chase for the other boy. "Come on! We can't lose him this time!"

Seiji stood up, trying to at least calm her nerves before she even tried to follow him. "Kaori… we shouldn't really try to—"

"Not now, Seiji!" Kaori snapped at him, already drawing her knife. "That… that _walking disaster_ will be the death of us if we let him run around unchecked! The bomb could still be well hidden somewhere in the mall and the moment that boy runs into one of them, he'll destroy it!"

Seiji was awestruck. She had never shown this side of her to him before. "Kaori—"

"He'll _ruin this_!" She said with tears threatening to leave her eyes.

Just as Seiji was almost an inch away to grab her arm, Kaori had already threw her second knife with all her might. The both of them watched as the metal gleamed under the sunlight, flying across the horizon.

"Kaori, listen to me—" His desperate attempt to break through her was yet again cut off as Kaori unexpectedly yanked at his arm, sending them both to the place that the knife had last been.

With a quick flash of light, they were now three feet away from the floor, but the momentum of Kaori's knife was yet to disappear as the glided through the air in three and a half meters a second. Dust filled their nose and darkness seemed to have enveloped them as they finally reached what seemed to be the third level of the abandoned mall.

Seiji had only a split second to catch himself from falling, but his pathetic effort of a landing roll was deemed useless as he then kept rolling and rolling on his sides before finally coming to an abrupt stop while Kaori on the other hand did a perfect landing with just both her feet.

On the ground, Seiji tried to pick himself up, as the dust on the dirty concrete floor seemed to have build up inside his nose the moment he landed on it. But when he looked around him, he realized that the mall might as well be a giant building filled with extraordinarily spacious rooms full of gargantuan pillar reaching up towards about four meters in height. Behind him was that opened ceiling that he saw from his earlier point outside, there was no debris or any sign of destructions, only a giant hole as the only place where sunlight crept into, like a in-game building that had failed to render completely.

Getting himself back to his original problem, he tried to look around to catch Kaori or Jun only to find the former trying to catch up with the other in an irritated manner.

"Hey!" Kaori shouted to Jun, who merely ignore her in the distance.

"Hamada!" She tried once more, only to find herself yet again ignored.

But then, out of hopelessness, she drew her third knife before throwing it past Jun's shoulder. With a mildly loud flash of light, Kaori had suddenly appeared in front of him. She seemed cross, angrier than she was before. And the way she stomped closer to Jun's wide-eyed face definitely showed it.

"You… irritating… aggravating… selfish little boy!" She jabbed her fingers at his still torso in a violent way. Jun tried to take a few uneasy steps back but she only closed their distance exponentially. "Do you not realize what we've all been through to get here?! I've waited all my life to be finally given the chance to reform… yet you try to stomp at your own in front of my face?! Can't you be any _more_ insulting?! God knows you needed it more than I do!"

For a moment, Jun's face was splattered with shock, only for it to finally show his true, beastly nature. "You don't know anything about me, _Princess_! You're so far up your own ass you couldn't even see the utter _bullshit_ that you're saying at me! You think you've been given freedom?! You're all _nothing_ but lost hopes! I might as well beat them _and_ you considering how worthless this program really is!"

Kaori's face struck a crimson color. "You have _no rights_ to say any of that—!"

"Face it!" Jun barked back. "By the end of the day they wouldn't consider you for a hero at all! You know what you are?! An experiment! Once failed you're going to be tossed in the garbage—!"

"How can you be so illogical?!" Kaori spat back, grabbing locks of her raven black hair in stress. "How can you act like none of this is worth your time?!"

"Because that's the fucking truth!" Jun shouted at her, jabbing his thumb at his chest. "Can't you fucking realize that yourself?! In the end you're all just little building blocks in Adachi's perfect little world! It ain't fucking matters once he has found a better piece! He's a faker! And you're all believing his lies!"

There was a hint of bitterness in Jun's tone when he reached this point, almost as if he was trying to water his words down; filtering all the painful thoughts that flooded out of his head and through his mouth.

Seiji was close to coming up to them, trying to break their fight, only to find Jun with his eyes shimmering under the sunlight that's crept down from the gap in the ceilings.

The other male stopped, thinking, disbelieved, worried.

"If you can't swallow the fact that you're all just throwable pawns on a chessboard, then don't even bother to stop and try to fucking talk to me!" Jun pushed her out of the way before proceeding towards his original destination. "There is no fucking hope for any of us! Get that rammed into your noggin'!"

"You…" Kaori seemed to be trembling, her anger had gotten her to the brink of tears. "HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT WHEN YOU'RE DYING, YOU HYPOCRITE!"

Seiji wanted to vomit out of shock.

Her voice echoed throughout the empty space of the floor, the sheer fury and confusion in her tone matched with her high-pitched shriek had finally been let out of her chest. Her hatred flooding all over the place.

She finally seemed to stop shaking, and words came out of her mouth. "If you would just look past your stupidity… MAYBE YOU'D FIND THE HELP YOU'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR!"

Jun stared at her from past his shoulder, seeing her slowly gaining her composure made him equally mad.

"You…" He started with a low growl, his fangs baring in a terrifying way, "… self-centered _bitch_!"

Seiji knew this was the time to split the both of them apart. He quickly dashed towards them, not wasting any time to stop and think. Jun was going to kill her, and he couldn't bare to stand by and watch. All of this has to stop… _now_!

Yet… he couldn't bring himself to actually go up against Jun on a one on one battle. He merely pushed Kaori out of the way before trying to shield her with his hand. His heart hammering against his chest as Jun kept closing in on them.

"You think you're better than me?! You think just because you know how much of _hindrance_ the people around you have makes you the fucking boss, is that it?! Maybe Adachi was wrong about you, maybe you were a _villain_ all along!" Jun pointed his finger at her, trying all his might while fighting Seiji who was blocking his path; "You don't know _anything_ about me! You can't possibly believe to have _any_ fucking power over me! You think you can help me?! YOU'RE JUST A PEBBLE! A _FUCKING_ PEBBLE! NONE OF YOU CAN EVER FUCKING HELP ME!"

Seiji had to back away from him, Jun was small but he had powers that nobody wanted to be tested on. In wariness, he tried to push Kaori back with his arm while his body faced Jun without even the slightest hint of flinching.

And then, with his other hand reached out, Seiji tried to talk, with the most sincerest tone he could make. "Back off, Jun… Come on… we don't need this…"

Jun's face seemed to have reddened from all of his outbursts, he was puffing air in and out of his chest as sweat began to drip down his chin. He kept looking from Seiji to Kaori, over and over again. There seemed to be a sudden spark inside his eyes that died down the moment he laid eyes on Seiji.

Silence overwhelmed the three of of them; Seiji was filled with confusion, Jun still filled with red hot anger, and Kaori frozen to her feet with nothing but a weight eating away at her heart.

Seiji could see it, the moment his eyes fell at the state Kaori was in. Jun's words seemed to have hurt her more than she could anticipate, and the worst thing about it was that Seiji didn't knew what to do about it. But the second he wanted to talk to Jun again, the other male was already on his way.

"Jun… come on, man!" Seiji called out to him, walking away from Kaori to catch up to the shorter boy. "Hey, we can talk about this!"

He could've sworn that Jun was in the brink of destroying everything around him, which was why Seiji needed to be extra careful when around him. He wanted to talk… he needed to talk… simply because he didn't understand what had was making him to be this difficult as a hero.

"Jun!" Seiji called again, only to find Jun gaining more and more distance as he walked. Seiji became even more desperate. "Come on… we can still do this together! You can't just push me away like this!"

And then, Seiji snapped.

"HEY!" He shouted at Jun. "FUCKING TALK TO ME, MAN!"

It made him flinch, a sudden abrupt stop came to him. The shorter male seemed dead, while standing straight up with a hanged head.

"I… I don't understand!" Seiji yelled, feeling his anger slowly dissipate. "Why are you doing this?!"

But Jun said not a thing. He wouldn't even look at Seiji in the face. This wasn't the boy they met months ago at the orientation, the boy who wouldn't think twice to angrily shout out all of his heart's contents, the boy who had no hesitation to strike at anyone who would think differently.

Seiji realized… his words could not reach him. _And he didn't understood why_. It drove him mad to see Jun abuse his best friend verbally with the words that would've hurt anyone, and in result, everything became _conflicted_. The last thing he wanted was for the three of them to split apart, just like how Adachi had seemed to be out of his mind with anger. Jun was no lesser of a pea in the pod along with his other classmates, but he was certainly trying to _rot_ himself.

He just wanted to understand why… he was pushing away everyone who wanted to help him.

" _First it was Adachi… then it's Kaori… It's not fair…"_ He thought to himself. _"Why… why now… of all times? Please, god, not now!"_

Just when he thought that all hope was lost, someone else came to view. When Jun stopped in his tracks abruptly, he could see a dark figure slowly walking out into the light.

A sudden sense of dread finally filled the air, and the room that held dozens of giant pillars suddenly felt so cramped the moment the other person walked in. Step… step… goes the footsteps of the mysterious individual. And then, just as a ray of light from above landed on his body, Seiji and Jun could finally see his dead, sunken face.

"Good grief!" A bored voice spoke, the sound of scratching hairs echoed throughout the silent halls. "Y'Already this energetic? What, did something good happen?"

Jun made a loud clicking noise with his tongue the second his eye fell upon the dreary sight of Tarasu Kobayashi, wearing nothing but his short, baggy cargo pants. His bare chest, completely decorated with well built muscles, glistened under the sunlight. His greasy hair hides the dead look that he had in his eyes.

Kobayashi always had that tired look in his face when he spoke, but there was no doubt to anyone else in the room that this person was not the one to be meddled with.

Seiji suddenly had everything that he wanted to talk about to disappear. His mind completely filled with wary thoughts as his feet were rooted to the ground. He couldn't see what Kaori had going on inside her head the moment she noticed Tarasu entering the room, but he noticed that Jun had not a single drop of care in him to be afraid.

"Well?" Tarasu said aloud again, smirking. "What's wrong? We're just getting to the good part! You can just talk like I'm not here, I wasn't going to pry on your dramas, you see."

"You're in the way." Jun spat at him, carelessly walking past him with his nose held up high.

But then, Tarasu suddenly drew out his arm to stop him. "Woah! Woah! You're not going somewhere are you? I mean, what happened to the whole 'villains versus heroes' thing?" He then began to chuckle maliciously.

"I said…" Jun growled lowly, taking a few steps back from Tarasu, "… YOU'RE IN THE WAY!"

Seiji had a split second moment to see what Jun had done, but he could've sworn that the Walking Disaster has roundhouse-kicked Tarasu straight in the face.

There was an obvious height difference between the both of them, but Jun had gained an advantage due to Tarasu's painfully bad stature. And the result: a powerful shockwave that rang through the halls like the impact force of a meteor.

The room exploded with a loud **THOOOOOM!**

Invisible forces of strength blew both Kaori and Seiji off of their feet. They couldn't take the force of Jun's Quirk that well, even if it wasn't aimed at them in the first place.

Transversal energy waves sure were a pain when inflicted… but that wasn't the case for Tarasu Kobayashi.

With ease, the greasy haired boy had seemingly… dispersed every waves of his Quirk.

As a result, an explosion of kinetic energy, in the form of a shockwave, destroyed the nearby pillars and turning them effectively into dusts. Both Kaori and Seiji could feel their heads ringing from the inside, tremors began to appear all across their skulls.

A second past, and everything seemed blurry from concrete dusts. Jun and Tarasu were both in a stand still. But only one of them had a look of dumbstruck on his face.

"My, my!" The greasy haired boy said with an impressed laugh. "You always do strike fast, don't you?"

Jun could feel his right leg still hovering above the ground, right where Tarasu's head should be. But amidst the dust and gleaming blue light, he couldn't make out what the hell was the thing that had blocked the full extent of his power.

And when the dust came to clear, a bright reflection of his face came to be as Tarasu had already grown half of his upper body and left arm with diamonds. Minerals of blue, sharp and dense, all protruded from right where Jun's kick had been blocked: with an arm, overgrown with a blue rocks, shielding Tarasu's face from the attack.

The diamond cladded boy merely smirked, but this time, as half of his face was already growing with little sharp rocks, there was something horrifying.

"Alas…" Tarasu said softly, enough for just Jun to hear, "… I am faster."

Jun's eyes widened, both in fear and shock.

And before he knew it, Tarasu had grabbed at his shin. The diamond knight made a quick 180 degree turn, before he slammed Jun's body straight to the concrete floor with a loud **CRASH!**

Tarasu took several steps backwards, waiting for the dust to clear. And then, he could feel a sudden emotion of joy when he saw Jun Hamada, once who had gone toe to toe against Mr. Adachi, dead-limp while laying on his back in a crater that Tarasu made.

The greasy haired male merely stared at Jun with an ever growing grin, the sheer ecstasy of watching him laying there helplessly without making any visible motions, building up, making Tarasu shiver in pure triumph. Seiji and Kaori could only watch in defeat as Jun's attack had struck them off of their guard, their heads still still ringing painfully.

"Ah… I think I overdid it…" Tarasu nonchalantly said, scratching at the back of his head once more. "Damn… Takara said not to mess up the plan, too… well… not my fault that he was weak. There's still two more to play with, I guess…"

Seiji was the first to get up, hesitantly slapping himself in the face twice, trying to get his consciousness together. This was nothing. Not when he had been bashed with a baseball bat far denser and more painful than Jun's Quirk.

But staying here and trying to boast about it meant a total loss for his team, and he couldn't afford that. His eyes averted from the Tarasu Kobayashi who had eyed him with a bloodlust homicidal look from afar, towards his other teammate Kaori Tsukinose who, by the time Seiji had laid his eyes on her, was laying curled up on the floor with her raven black hair covering her face. She was motionless.

"No…" Seiji breathed out, unsure of what had happened. But as he gritted his teeth, he had no doubt of what he needed to do: he immediately rushed into her aid. "KAORI WAKE UP!"

There was a light haughty laugh from the distance, and footsteps had followed it from behind. "You know… you could save me some time by just saying that you surrender. It's waaaaaay to early for me to fight!"

"Come on, Kaori…" Seiji said desperately as he shook her limp shoulder. "Need some of your help here!"

But the words that wanted to come out of his mouth was suddenly jammed in his throat from bewilderment. The moment Tarasu had already reached a mere few feet from them, the sunlight struck his figure; his unnaturally swollen figure.

A hundred more crystal clear minerals, shining a dim hue of blue when hit by the sunlight, exploded out of the left side of Tarasu Kobayashi's bare body like a mountain of minerals. The skin of left hand, now swollen and twice as large his other arm, was completely turned into a rocky surface with nothing but spikes and uneven grounds. The same went for his left shoulder, and up to his face. The hedonistic smile that crept from face to face was decorated elongated piece of rocks protruding out of his cheeks like a thick porcupine's needle.

"Ah! The thrill… finally... something to dominate…" Tarasu madly muttered to himself, his heartbeat fastening painfully from the impatience to kill. He then turned to Seiji, a mad smile had met a fearful frown. "You wouldn't mind if I… break a few piece of your bones, right?"

"Yeah, that's _totally_ a villain candidate, right there…" Seiji sarcastically said under his breath, his body instinctively shielding the still unconscious Kaori from the oncoming attack.

Tarasu then started to scream at him, "LETS SEE WHAT YOU GOT AGAINST THIS!"

With a quick slam of his bulky left hand toward the concrete floor, an iceberg of minerals had begun to form from under his hand, before it exponentially bursted out of the floor in a straight line heading straight towards its opponents. It was coming Seiji's way quicker than he could block, and something told him that getting hit by it would be the same as being dead.

Seiji had a mere two seconds to grab Kaori with both arms before carrying her on his back, and jump out of harms way. A mere two seconds before getting pounced, speared, and ripped to a bloody mess by an oncoming rush of sharp rocks.

"UWOOOOH!" Seiji shouted instinctively, his legs unknowingly made him jump out of his original position while carrying the weight of his companion on his back.

The iceberg crashed into a pillar with a glassy sounding crack, until he realized that it was the pillar getting destroyed and not the protruding wave of diamonds coming out of the ground.

Tarasu was merciless. He showed this by continuously summoning more and more protrusions of icebergs out of the floor. Seiji had to jumped several times to dodge from his ground attacks, ultimately making his arms sore from carrying Kaori.

He couldn't let himself be captured by one of the crystals, he did all he could to jump over them, but it seemed like the crystals had surrounded him first.

"LIKE HELL THAT'LL STOP ME!" Seiji yelled into the sky as he pulled the unconscious Kaori higher onto his back before rushing towards on of the growing crystals on the ground.

With a quick leap, Seiji began to jump around on top of the rapidly growing minerals, not caring if the sharp edge that could penetrate his boots could eventually rip his feet apart, or worse, slip and fall head first tosses an inevitable death.

Suddenly, Tarasu stopped, hunching forward with a frown on his sweaty face. The protruding crystals under his feet had seemingly start to disintegrate into little white sands of salt.

"Ah… I'm parched…" He groaned to himself, seeing how the crystals that he summoned from the ground started to break off and filling the floor with more and more white salt.

When he realized that Seiji was still running amok with Kaori on his back, he reached down and grabbed a handful of salt from what had left of his earlier crystals. The white sand spilling unendingly from the gap of his fingers.

"Good… grief…" He said in a tiresome voice, before he eventually swallowed drown every drop of salt left on his hand. He gulped down the little minerals before he let his arms fall to his sides.

And, a second later, as his left hand began to form a circle with his fingers, a long transparent spear had suddenly grown out of it. The process was somewhat quick, giving him an advantage, as well as the ability to shape it into any size he wanted. And when he raised his newly made giant spear straight from his hand, aiming it at Seiji from afar, he let out another smile.

"Maybe you haven't got… _the point_ …"

His arm was surely made for something as powerful as throwing a monstrous looking five foot crystalized spear over a long distance, and he wasn't going to waste any of that skill.

With a sudden movement, the spear flew, breaking through the air with a loud whistle. The wind and alike were never existed in an isolated space such as the mall, but the sheer force of his throw could very well create one of its own.

As the spear was gaining more and more distance, where it would eventually reach its target in a matter of seconds, Seiji had not the reflexes to dodge such object.

He eyed it from afar, catching the spear in action right when it was nearly there to rip his head open. He suddenly found himself praying to a nonexistent god.

But then, with a sudden flash of light, his vision changes completely.

Seiji was too taken aback to realize the distance of the floor below him, he only knew that he had somehow changed places again like the thing he once did with Kaori by his side and holding his hand. And when he fell into the floor with a painful thud, he realized that Kaori was still on his back and pressing down on his spine.

The raven haired girl slowly got up and off of his back, seeing him lying spread eagled on his chest while being crushed by her weight made her instinctively remove herself from her position.

"S-Seiji! A-are you Alright?" Kaori tried to say, her eyebrows furrowing in worry and her head still spinning and shaking.

"I'm fine…" The boy groaned when he lifted his body to a sitting position. He turned to her with the same worried look. "How about you?"

"I'm alright…" Kaori assured him, but her face suddenly fell into a deep frown. "I'm sorry… I couldn't have been more weak to suddenly fall unconscious…"

"That's… not something that we should be worrying about at the moment…" Seiji reassured her back before he looked around at his area. He was currently sitting in the middle of a mess of crystal icebergs.

He had managed to take a quick peek through the gaps, and eventually found himself staring at the giant spear that had once aimed at his face piercing though to the end of a single large piece of boulder made out of crystals. Kaori seemed to have switched their positions with it.

Seiji unknowingly gulped, both in fascination and in shivering fear, imagining his own head getting split in two by the sheer size of it, considering how it wouldn't fit when jammed inside his brain in the first place.

He tried to take another heart-maddening stare at the homicidal madman Tarasu Kobayashi, who had his upper body weighted even more so ever since he had swelled his left arm with heavy crystallization. Seiji couldn't see his face, his greasy bangs had hid Tarasu's eyes completely, but the pompous sneer that smeared his sunken face was lit by the sunlight.

"WELL?!" The greasy haired boy shouted in great anger, perhaps from the salt. "DON'T MAKE ME WAIT! SHOW ME YOUR PITIFUL FACES!"

There was absolutely no reason for Seiji to heed to Tarasu's calls, like how any sane person would. The ponytailed boy wiped the sweat off of his forehead, feeling his bangs slowly getting wetter and wetter. He should have a little bit of energy left inside of him for another dash out of here, even though his lungs were burning like hell. But then he remembered: Jun.

Should he still be alive, then Seiji couldn't just leave him to lay on the floor like a fallen porcelain doll. It was stupid, it was illogical, it was in every way to be perfectly _justified_ to leave Jun out there by himself… or so his inner demon said. But… like the _hero_ he was supposed to play, a _hero_ he shall aim to be.

Seiji proceeded to hide back behind the giant thick mineral that circled around him and Kaori. "Do you wanna take this one?" He said to his only companion left, who had been dozing off with worry.

"W-what?" Kaori sputtered, cold sweats running down her stoic face. "I-I'm sorry… I wasn't listening…"

"What's wrong?" Seiji tried to ask, his voice almost whispering.

"It's just… I find the whole situation a tad bit off…" Kaori told him, her face scrunching up in full concentration. "Why _only_ Kobayashi? And what was he and Takara planning?"

Before after even a second, she slammed her right fist at the palm of her of left hand with a look of realization splattered on her face. "They're trying to move the rocket! He's just here to keep us busy!"

"I'm pretty sure he is just planning to obliterate us right here, right now." Seiji scoffed before putting a hand up to his chin. "Regardless, we need to get to the rocket before the time runs out."

"But—" Kaori suddenly said aloud, "—what about Jun? H-he could've been really hurt after Tarasu knocked him out… a-and…"

She then began to pinch at the bridge of her nose, feeling a mountain of stress slowly building up inside of her.

"Gah! I'm so… so naïve…" Kaori pursed her lips, slamming her fist to her face. "All I wanted was to help him…"

The two of them stared at each other's glances. Kaori seemed to be reeling back from what she had unknowingly said earlier, but Seiji merely cleared his throat.

"We're not going to leave him here." Seiji said without a single trace of doubt in his tone. "That's why I wanted to ask you if you are willing to take on Tarasu head on, giving me some opening to dash it."

"I…" Kaori seemed torn, her pupils shaking madly. "I can't just… leave you a—"

"Jun needs it more than me." Seiji reassured her. "I also didn't wanted to leave him in the ditch just like that… you know why, don't you?"

"W-what?"

Seiji closed his eyes, unsure of what was there left to tell her. He didn't wanted to make her think that she was obliged to do so. In all honesty, Seiji didn't know what to think anymore. He was in too much of a pinch to actually come up with something that can make him think straight, as well as convincing Kaori that he wasn't going to let her feel weighted by her worry.

He sighed, trying not to let his laugh be heard by her. It almost felt… relatable.

"I'm not trying to guilt trip you, or anything." Seiji said. "But like you said: he's not in any health to fight with full power. It's probably the… least heroic thing we can do right now, no matter how stupid it is."

She gulped when she heard him say. "You… are you sure?"

"I may have bad grades, but I'm not stupid. I can manage on my own." He scratched his cheeks, letting out a small grin. "Well… I might be stupid enough to try and run headfirst towards the rocket. But I'm worried for Jun, too, you know."

"I understand." Kaori nodded before looking past the giant diamond rocks towards the distance. "So, what's the plan?"

Seiji looked around, until he found a single stray piece debris in the form of a palm-sized diamond. He clutched it with his hand, nodding to himself with assurance.

"The ol' 'throw and switch'." He suggested to her. "Once you've kept him busy, I can make my way to the rocket. Can you handle that."

Kaori glanced at the rock before back at Seiji again. "Not a problem."

She crouched down to a running position, saying nothing, she merely had the fire that burns in her eyes. Her resolve seemed to be running quite madly through her veins. Seiji couldn't complain, he liked someone to actually listen to him once in a while.

He casted a ghastly stare at the floor, suddenly thinking back to the fight that they had earlier. He wasn't angry, instead what loomed inside his heart was pity.

"Hey," He called again to Kaori, "there's something that's been bugging my mind for a while…"

Kaori looked up. "Y-yes?"

"Does… Jun hate me?" Seiji asked her, his shoulders slouching. "Maybe that's why he doesn't want to talk to me at all."

His teammate listened closely, her eyebrows furrowing.

"That's what I don't get, Kaori." Seiji told her, grabbing a handful of his locks with an uneasy expression. "I don't get why he keeps insisting on leaving, why he is acting like he does, it's _sickening_!"

He reached out a hand to her, before stroking her upper arm through her carbon-fiber body armor lining with the tip of his fingers. "After this… make sure that he tells me _all_ of it…"

Kaori saw resolve in his eyes as well. Her eyes were suddenly filled with admiration. She was still worried for him, though, and what he was planning. But she knew she didn't have the right words to deny him. In fact, it was _undeniable_.

For she, too, wanted to know.

"On the count of three…" Seiji said as he lifted the diamond in his hand. "One… two… THREE!"

He jumped out of his hiding, stepped a good footing on the circling diamonds, pulled back his hand further than his shoulder, and the diamond on the palm of his hand clenched tightly with full determination. He had already knew where Tarasu Kobayashi had been standing, where his head was located in his hunchbacked body, and Seiji kept a burning picture of it in his mind.

Tarasu, out of the gaps of his bangs, saw the fast movements on the corner of his eye. He spun his head around until he was eye to eye with Seiji Orimura.

A grim smile split his face apart.

"FOUND YOU!" With a quick swing of his diamond cladded left hand, dozens of crystal spikes emerged out of it before firing at Seiji with a speed close to that of a home-run pitcher.

But Seiji threw the single piece of debris just in time before the rushing shrapnel got a good hit on several parts of his body. The ponytailed boy had no chance to dodge any of them and he had to pay the price for it by subconsciously activating his Quirk, but he couldn't care less… not when Kaori had already shifted place.

Seiji was thrown backwards as the sharp diamonds that shot at him had brought him down effectively, he landed with a sharp thud before sliding across the salt ridden floor and came crashing towards the many stray protruding boulders.

Tarasu had watched him fall, and it made him feel even more giddy, but a dreadful expression came over his face as he suddenly realized something.

" _The girl!"_ He thought in sudden caution. _"Where is Tsukinose?!"_

And right before he knew it, a blinding flash of came over him, overwhelming him completely until he had lost all of his guard. He had merely a split second time to shield his head from any incoming attack, but it was too late.

With a loud yell, Kaori managed to land a swift kick to his cheek. Yet, she had merely missed the chance from knocking him out completely by hitting the side of his chin, which would only make Tarasu stumble in response.

Kaori landed another kick, while still flying in midair from the momentum of the diamond that she had switched with earlier. She needed to knock him out by chance or at lease drop his chance of fighting back, but she failed once she realized that Tarasu had immediately grabbed her shin the moment she threw her second kick.

With an ear splitting roar, Tarasu did the same thing he did to Jun. He swung the hand that held Kaori's leg before slamming her down to the floor.

But then, she disappeared in another flash of blinding light.

The second she emerged, she had switched places with piece of rock sitting conveniently on the floor near her. Luckily for her, there were hundreds of maybe thousands of similar mineral debris sitting all over the place.

Without a second thought, she leaped as high as she could towards the back of Tarasu's head while unseating another knife. The moment her opponent had laid eyes on her, her blade was already touching the base of his neck.

 **CLANG!** Goes the sound of the blade of her knife breaking. The spot that had been Tarasu's naked neck was now ridden with diamonds.

" _Impossible! How is he able to keep up!"_ Kaori shouted in her mind.

She clicked her tongue, watching the boy's homicidal grin slowly aimed at her. But before Tarasu could land his attack by swinging his arm at her, she had disappeared again in another flash of light. She planned to aim any part of the body that she can get. But every effort she took was met with failure due to his quick crystallization process.

She appeared under his arm and kicked him straight in the torso, failed.

She appeared behind him before stabbing him in the thighs, failed.

Blinding flash of lights after blinding flash of lights, every attack that she gave didn't matter. Tarasu was too quick and too strong compared to her. Moreover, his Quirk helped him way better than hers did, considering how there wasn't anymore objects that she can change with.

And then, Tarasu had finally noticed her shift, and kicked her straight in the guts.

She landed too far away from him before stopping herself from skidding in caution, holding her crouching tiger position with the hilt of her knife bit between her teeth. As she clenched her teeth trying to hold back the pain in her guts, she heard Tarasu laughing.

"What's the matter, Tsukinose?" He said with a lowly sneer, his topless body gleaming in a light blue hue. "No more rocks to switch with? AHAHAHAHA!"

Kaori said nothing as she watched him turn to her slowly, looking her straight in the eye with his misty dead ones. She shivered from the sudden coldness that overwhelmed her. She recognized this feeling: it was the fear of _death_.

She bit her tongue, begging inside her mind, _"Jun, where are you!"_

"Notice how I kicked every possible objects near me in the middle of our fight." Tarasu told her, opening his arms as if to behold his great work. "That's right… I have figured out that you can only change places with objects that you can _perceive_. Like how you didn't switch places with the many salt mounds under our feet, because they were simply to small for you to locate clearly!"

She knew not of how to react to this, not when she knew that it was futile to go against him once more. She needed another plan, _fast_! If she were to be defeated here, or if Tarasu had known about Seiji dashing away to locate the rocket, she won't have any choice but to keep him busy for as long as it took.

"So what now, _Princess_?" Tarasu taunted, still grinning. He took slow steps closer to her, approaching her with an unmistakable aura of a killer.

Kaori stayed silent, she decided to be on guard to keep him on striking first. She couldn't think about any good strategy right now but to _keep him busy_.

Her chest was tightening, she was in no doubt, going to die.

But if it was for a _heroic cause_ , then she wouldn't mind at all.

Tarasu was now a mere six feet away from her, his body began to swole less and less as salt from his protruding crystals spilled all over the ground beneath him. But there was no telling how much more can he take before going into a state of exhaustion, which made him even more dangerous.

"There is no way for you to win against _me_!" Tarasu boasted. "I'm _tired_! Even I was practically _skipping_ when I was told to suppress Hamada in here, I couldn't even care less after that knowing that you all are just a bunch of _weaklings_! This isn't a fight! Where's the challenge?! Can't you deadbeats get up one more time and try to—" **THOOOOOOOM!**

Kaori watched with her mouth agape as Tarasu basically flew out of her sight, she had basically lost every single working thoughts in her brain.

She saw Tarasu crashing into a pillar, and another one, and another one, and another one. Each crash made a loud sickening crunching noise.

The shockwave that blew Tarasu away earlier also made Kaori's hair fly, and when the dust that gathered in the wind began to scatter away, she could see a single beaten up figure in front of her.

It was Jun Hamada. Standing on the edge of his pain, with the same scowling look on his face.

"JUN!" She unknowingly shouted at him, only to be silenced once again with a spitting look that he shot her with.

Kaori suddenly felt a her shoulders lightening completely, until her heart suddenly became weighted in a flurry of emotions. She felt anger, guilt, and shock, but moreover, she felt sympathy. She had been wanting to ask Jun the same question Seiji wanted to ask him.

Meanwhile, back at Seiji, he was secretly watching from afar as he dashed towards any visible exits that Tarasu might have entered from. He felt a sudden overwhelming joy filling him as he saw Jun.

"Yes!" He shouted to his earpiece while punching the air above him, his white and yellow shirt stained with red from his own blood during Tarasu's attack. "How about that, Kaori? Jun's back!"

Kaori merely stared at the boy in question before replying to her own earpiece, "Yeah…"

Jun suddenly rested his hands at his knees, keeping his body from tilting forward. He clutched at his chest in great pain, biting at his bottom lip while shooting Kaori a similar blank stare. He huffed and puffed in exhaustion, and Kaori doubted if he could actually go on.

Both she and Jun suddenly heard another crunching sound in the distance, almost as if it was rocks grinding against rocks. And, much to their caution, they saw Tarasu jammed into the rebars of the pillars with his arms spread out like wings like the saint being crucified.

But the saint didn't have the maniacal laugh that Tarasu had. The greasy haired boy had something off about him like the way he was still able to move after crashing into two concrete pillars.

He looked up, his sunken face ridden with tiny concrete debris, giving Jun Hamada a look of pure excitement.

"FINALLY! YES! YES!" Tarasu yelled at him with joy. "FINALLY SOMEONE THAT CAN MATCH UP TO MY STRENGTH! OOOOOH HOW FUN IT IS GOING TO BE TO BREAK YOU OVER AND OVER AGAIN! AHAHAHAHAHAAA!"

Kaori had an unfathomable look of dread spread all over her face, and she tried to look at Jun with worry as if she wanted to know what he was planning to do.

"You get out." Came his gruff reply.

But Kaori couldn't catch that. "W-what?"

"I said LEAVE!" Jun suddenly shouted at her, veins popping at his neck before he back away from her in wary. "God, do you want me to fucking repeat that again?!"

"… What about you?" Kaori asked him.

"I'll keep this freak company…" He said, cracking his knuckles under the giant gauntlets that hid his hands as he waited for Tarasu to approach him.

"That's not what I'm talking about…" Kaori responded as she stood up and got closer to him with uneasy eyes almost bulging out of their sockets. "What about your—"

"GO! I'LL BUY THE TWO OF YOU SOME TIME!" Jun barked at her before he ran out of sight to battle once more against Tarasu.

The girl felt a tinge of regret in her chest as she ran the other direction, towards the path Seiji Orimura had took moments before. She didn't even tried to look back, not when she knew that Jun would keep Tarasu busy for a hundred more years to come.

Kaori saw Seiji waving at her from the distance, pointing at the doorway at the end of the giant pillar halls. She quickly sped up, not wasting any time to rest.

The second she falters and wastes precious time, less time it would take for Jun to fall… permanently.

.

Two individuals walked through the never ending maze of beam pillars and other unfinished construction sites, the smell of drying cement on the air mixed with the scorching hot sun in the sky had brought both of them to sweat profusely. There wasn't any conditioning around here, only empty spaces and dead buildings that surrounded the giant mall.

Medium heeled boots clicked on the concrete, the girl who wore it had her sharp eyes set forward without falter. Her short skirt flapping in response of the stray mid morning wind, while the armored leggings on her legs hugged her form and completely circulates the wind perfectly in these humid air. As her red cape swished and her black short suit vest hugged the mature form of her body as well as keeping her style in check with her white top, her top hat gleamed under the sunlight. With ease, she bewitched anyone who simply looks at her.

Suki Takara had no interest in anything else other than winning, and winning is what she'll get.

She was passionate about today, and quite irritatingly angry as well. She couldn't put a finger on why she kept feeling that way, but she knew _how_.

People had been underestimating her for years, and today was going to change everything. Sure, she'll play along as a hero in every possible way including studying for Adachi's stupid exams or doing stupid Quirk Apprehension Tests with the least likable teacher in U.A. But being sorted to a team who acts as simulated villains? That was insulting.

At first she was fine with it, so long as she can do it alone and undisturbed while her pawns acts as the pawns they were. But the only problem was: she couldn't hope to win against the team that was made out of Jun Hamada, Seiji Orimura, and Kaori Tsukinose.

The two males weren't a problem, not when she had a rook and a bishop at her side. With just a snap of his finger she could order them to do whatever the hell she wanted, even going through her plans, as simple as that.

But Tsukinose? No, no! She too much of a problem to her!

She couldn't find the right way to _kill her painfully and mercilessly_.

Her…

 _Her_!

She needed to be burned!

Then, a sudden loud thud behind her brought her out of her scheming. She looked past her shoulder and laid her eyes upon the bulky teenager Date Takehiro who was currently carrying a giant rocket above his head. It was a miracle that he had managed to carry it while sweating like a madman.

He wore black tactical pants, loose and baggy and tucked into his giant boots. Several armor platings silverfish in color on his knees that kept on layering towards both his waist and ankle. On his torso was a navy vest reaching all the way up to his cheeks as the collars were deemed high enough to be called a mountaineers' wear, yet the zipper that kept it together was pulled down to his bellybutton to reveal his swole gleaming chest from the gap.

While he carried that giant rocket, it would be sane for people to _not_ wear black under the heat of the raging sun.

"What the hell's going on up there?" He muttered with a heated puff, pushing his sweaty hair back.

"It's Hamada." Suki told him, reminiscing over the giant familiar shockwave that she heard earlier. "They're fighting again."

"Izzat so?" Date sarcastically said as he started to wave his hand to cool himself down. "Daaamn! Why the hell are we waiting out here, man? Kobayashi's beating them all to pulp and I ain't getting a part of it!"

The whole building had been silent for almost six to seven minutes, anyone would've thought that perhaps Tarasu or the heroes had won. But that wasn't the case for her, she knew that eventually Jun Hamada would get to his feet, like he always did, and that was why she sent Tarasu to keep him busy.

"Because," Suki started with an icy tone, looking at him straight in the eye with sharp eyes like daggers, "you're just gonna collapse the building in on them, doofus! If you haven't noticed, your Quirk only lets you run in a _straight line_! So shut up and follow the plan!"

Date blinked. "Jeez, no need to be so feisty about it…"

Just when they were starting to approach to the parking, the explosions of shockwaves were heard again, and again, and again.

"Woah! They're really brawling over there!" Date said in awe, whistling while listening to the scene.

" _So Jun Hamada is still not down after all…"_ Suki Takara thought to herself. _"Tsukinose and Orimura knew better than to stick with him when he's angry, then that means… they are heading towards here right now!"_

Date glanced back at his so-called leader. "We should be worried, right? I mean, it's just like what you said, once Kobayashi got Hamada pinned in a fight, the other two would dash here."

"Indeed." Suki replied.

Then, she giggled.

"Let them come." She said with the most heinous smirk she can make. "It's all going according to plan…"

* * *

 **"...** **The costume was, frankly, skintight, as it showed her not yet matured 15 year old body. Whether it was due to her Quirk that she looked quite younger than the rest of her female friends, none of them here knew.**

 **She was, by definition: youth. The purest form (or impurest) there was."**

 **FBI: AAAAAAAYYYY STOP!**

 **.**

 **(Sorry I couldn't see Mika in the same way when i realized that robotic parts didn't really age)**

 **.**

 **It's great to be back, folks. Thank you.**

 **This chapter was a handful, let me tell ya. Because this is where I was planning to show some of the character's true nature in the heat of a simulated battle, which was completely different from their fight with Mr. Adachi as they all would be standing on equal ground. Wrote a lot of dialogues in the first draft, brought up to about 15k+ words, then decided that I am lacking enough sleep. I am going to split this into two parts again (because why the heck not) and post the latter chapter a bit later. I still have to proofread this one considering how I wrote this with autocorrect on.**

 **Don't worry, though. Perhaps in a week or shorter. I've had fun writing this arc knowing how my main man Jun Hamada's character development actually shows.**

 **Now, to the personal problems that I've ran into, I've had a lot of ideas lately considering a lot of future arcs, fillers, and downright comedy sketches for MHA:DC. But, as you all know that I suck at making jokes, I'll keep the sketches for a future reference. Idk, perhaps it'll be a short comic strip on DA or a legit 1k words chapter here in FF. Th point is, I am stressed out of my mind to keep the flow of the story going, knowing how I should keep all the character's spotlight on, and improve them bit by bit, or else this story isn't going anywhere. Regardless, my mind is blooming with trees filled with pollens of ideas, causing a massive blockage in my thinking cap due to my allergies.**

 **I'll probably write short stories later, or what do you think?**

 **In another note, this is just some random topic that I wanted to share with you guys: I've been thinking about making H.R.I into a legit reform school rather than just an experimental work by U.A. I'm not going to change the story or anything, probs just like giving the cast a bigger and better place to live without any of Monoma's nonsense running about in the second year.**

 **.**

 **Now hold on a second guys...**

 **What was that?**

 **The pairing?**

 **Oh... well you better find out who ends up with who, won't you? (Evil snicker)**

 **Pl0x review btw, I appreciate any thoughts you have on your otps.**

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

 **WOAH! LOOKING COOL KAORI! She might need to catch up her opponent real quick... if he didn't run at 70mph!**

 **Huh... so this is the power of Seiji's Ultra Pain Tolerance... He shall run headfirst towards danger in order to keep peace amongst his classmates, no matter what wound!**

 **JUN! You're next line is... _"DAMMIT MY HEART CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!" Will Jun make his way out of this mess_ , or will Tarasu goink to kill him first before his illness does!"**

 **Oh no... It's not looking pretty good, is it? Will the heroes win triumphantly or will the villains step over them? What will happen to Jun now?**

 **Stay tuned!**

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

 **R &R**


	11. Battle Trial! (part 2)

**Monitoring Room -** **07:20 a.m.**

* * *

It had been about ten minutes since the first fight started, and since then, everyone began to had mixed feelings watching from behind the scenes.

The class gathered inside the monitoring room, mutters running about in the air while being partly muffled by the loud explosions blaring from the surround sound speakers placed in every corner of the room.

The children hadn't taken their eyes off of the action in front of them. Almost as if watching a tragedy happening before them, the class had their words lodged inside their throat in disbelief.

"That's cruel." Mori suddenly said in worry. She felt herself having the need to remark the horror in front of her to her friends.

The others watched, almost in a pitiable state. They started to nod along with her.

"Thank god, I'm not against him." Miyu said with a disbelieved stare.

The lights blared inside the monitoring room as the simulated fight between the villains and the heroes that happened to be in heat was happening all in front of her, and she wasn't the only one who was watching closely. Many of her other classmates watched with different reactions from one another.

On the giant screen, right at the middle of the many more just like it, placed between them in neat rows and columns, was showing the action of the fight between one man against three, causing awe and caution in those who watched it.

The two teachers were also watching closely from outside the crowd of students, their stiff hands ready to touch the little mic in front of them whenever something gets out of hand, and they were in the brink of weariness. Mimicking the reaction of their students, both Mr. Adachi and All Might cannot comprehend the sheer intensity of the battle that was happening in front of them.

To the Number 1 Pro Hero, watching Tarasu in action was even more spine chilling than that of the last class that he had taught. These children were _professional_ when it came to acting in a precarious situation. He then remembered what kind of mold that these children came from, and it took him a while to remember that these weren't the same people who find simulated battles as a 'friendly activity'.

He didn't want to patronize himself to say that it never was, but seeing Tarasu in action, while being in accordance to the strategy his team had pulled earlier on, made All Might thought twice about the need of him in teaching them anything.

But nevertheless, he needed to remind himself of the _real_ caretaker that should've been responsible in today's events. All Might needed to cast aside the children and avert his attention to the temporary teacher that had a face paler than a snowy field on a winter storm.

In his buff form, All Might adopted a look of concern to his colleague.

" **Are you okay, Mr. Adachi?** " He asked him, and Adachi merely shot his head to the bigger man in surprise.

The lion haired man meekly stuttered, his arms folding together in a form of discomfort. There was a hint of uncertainty in his eyes. But nevertheless, All Might didn't expect anything less from the man who had been fighting in the battlefield years before All Might had made his debut as the number one Pro Hero.

Yet, the two weren't that far apart in terms of seniority. Which would explain their experience in two different things: heroism and combat.

Even back then, All Might knew the difference between him and Adachi.

The second he had heard about the HRI Program, there was a sudden call for answerability to the ones involved. Yet, knowing how it would be for a hero in the face of would be villains, he felt that it might be out of his boundaries.

But when Adachi came along, he knew exactly what the class needed. The man had shown so much enthusiasm in being a teacher, whereas All Might… he was only thinking about his successor. He couldn't put his slight shame into words when Adachi had shown to be more than capable to understand these children better than he did.

Adachi was the only one who could do it. All Might respected him for what he aimed to be; the person who could give these children the future that they deserved. The Number One Pro Hero somehow found something from the war-torn soldier that he can learn, and perhaps an equal footing as well.

But something changed, for the worse.

The Hisaki Adachi that was once full of hope and passion, had disappeared in the blink of an eye. Something had definitely happened to him, and All Might's suspicion was proven when he went and spoke with Nedzu, who told him that Adachi was going to go back to being a law enforcer, quitting his teacher occupation for good.

All Might at first felt like it wasn't his place to meddle in. Not when he knew that Adachi volunteered to be a temporary teacher in the first place.

But Adachi was different than the others, even when he wasn't a graduate from a field of study. Which only made him even more respectable among others.

His love for children, his caring attitude, it was what made All Might's impression of him indubitably an overall good person. The Pro Hero might even say that he was way better than he was.

The two had spoken, leaving All Might with the bittersweet feeling of envy and pity. It was the night before the end of spring, marking the week that would march on as the day of the start of this year's first semester. The two adults sat together inside a restaurant, being pulled around by their fellow coworkers to try out and have some fun every once in a while, and Adachi had unknowingly proved himself to be a much better company to have in an outing.

All Might remembered the enthusiasm that he had talking about the future plans he had for the kids, never had All Might known such dedicated person… not until a familiar face reminded him of someone who used to be the same as Adachi.

… Used to be.

All Might, that night, had purposely let Adachi know that he trusts him enough to let him know of his alter ego: Yagi Toshinori. And surprisingly, as All Might had shared his weakest form to someone who he had only met in a span of weeks (yet, he knows a particular boy who had accidentally seen his alter ago, minutes after their first encounter), Adachi merely laughed it off.

He did say he was surprised, though. All Might was taken aback by his sudden composed reaction, and he could've sworn the rest of his coworkers who knew about his disability was also giving an apparent bewilderment when Adachi looked no more than having a brief surprise.

That night, as the hours began to pass and the people of the night began to disperse, Adachi had shared to All Might his own weakness. He was not in a state affected by alcohol, considering that he did not drank any, but he had let out his heart to Yagi Toshinori without a hint of doubt.

"I am scared, Mr. Toshinori…"

All Might remembered him say.

"I might be a teacher now, but what if I fail to become what they had expected of me the most?"

All Might remembered telling him that everyone needed to learn from their first mistakes, and there was nothing wrong with making a lot of them.

"But you see, Mr. Toshinori… there's this kid in the program… who I've known for almost ten years now... I have left him once and came back months after without telling him anything. I was too confident, I thought that that the other _Suppressors_ might get along with him just as well as I did, I trusted them to. But… I came back only to find the news of him… _sickened_ and _dying_ … Then, I ran. I was too scared to go back and look at my past mistakes, but I didn't give up on him. He might hate me, he might want to try to kill for leaving him… heh… even though I already did… but I was still searching around, trying to find anything that can save him from being the dangerous object that he was going to be… And then, I found it; I couldn't believe I landed myself on the Ministry of Heroics' door, with the plans for the HRI Program right in my hands… I did what I had to at the moment, because I couldn't afford him hurting himself anymore… Nedzu, along with the rest of the teachers, had signed the official test run. I picked out the children single handedly and gave him friends. Thinking that I might just get through him this time…"

All Might, or, at that moment, Yagi Toshinori, saw him sigh into the chilly night. Looking forlorn and hopeless.

"But he was never going to let me through. I needed this experiment to work or else… I wouldn't have anything to prove to him anymore…"

The two shared quite the professional bond since then. And All Might learned something truly meaningful that night; whether it was successor and teacher, inmate and guard, everyone has some kind of bond that keeps them together, even if they were strangers in the first place.

He truly needed the pep talk that they had before bidding each other goodbye, that night. Of course, it was because Yagi was reminded of his old mentor, whom he had deeply respected for just because, out of every Quirked in the world, it was one Quirkless boy whom she had chosen to be her successor.

The circumstances vary, but the blood of the covenant is still thicker than the water of the womb.

Snapping back to reality, ending his silent musings and reminiscing of the past, he looked sideways towards the Mr. Adachi in the present.

He was different from back then, and it gave All Might enough reason to fix things back in place. For he wanted his _own_ successor to learn in his place. And Adachi wasn't going to back down from his position just yet, for All Might was the Symbol of Peace, and what better way was there than to teach it from people to people?

If Adachi wouldn't get his advices through to his head, then All Might needed to smash it directly into his brain.

"Are you sure that this is alright?" Adachi said with a hint of impatience in his tone, his fingers tightening its grasp on the lining of his suit in stress. "Hasn't this gone far enough?"

" **This is too early, Mr. Adachi.** " All Might reassuringly said, keeping his beefy hands in a close position with the mic that would've signaled if a penalty was performed. " **Please be calm, everything is under control. And, if you must, learn from what they are doing.** "

If All Might had to be frank, he needed to say that he was a tad bit worried. When Tarasu first came to the spotlight and began to cut every rope that kept his sanity together, All Might was geniunely terrified.

Adachi's pupils wandered left and right, trying to follow the action in front of him. "I understand the simulations necessary for teaching the importance of strategy and teamwork, but…" He then turned to All Might with a raised eyebrow, "… what point is there to keep watch and let both teams rip each other's throats out?'

" **It** _ **is**_ **a simulation, after all. I am making sure that nothing gets out of the line.** " All Might told him, his absurdly shadowed face showing no signs of apprehensiveness. " **And besides, they are acting all according to their strategies, no?** "

It was true, Adachi had watched the bloodthirsty Tarasu to have conducted a fairly logical plan, along with his teammates. He was impressed. But when he saw Jun Hamada being slammed into the ground with just one arm, something inside him snapped.

He understood what he needed to do, and that was nothing. Not that he couldn't do anything at all, but it was better to all of them that he shouldn't be doing anything at all.

" **We still have time, Mr. Adachi.** " All Might assured him, patting the back of Mr. Adachi's back. " **Up until now, we have yet to see more of their potentials. This is an important part of teaching them what it meant to lend your power to someone, rather than letting everyone know that you can do it yourself!** "

"That's what I'm worried about…" Adachi said under his breath. "You do not _understand_ him, and what he's willing to do just to prove his point…"

The Pro Hero immediately knew who Adachi was referring to, and he turned his attention back to the screen before watching the figure of the smaller male out of the visible three in the battlegrounds.

All Might said nothing back to Adachi, he averted his attention back to the other side of the screen, watching both Kaori Tsukinose and Seiji Orimura slowly and slowly getting more and more cornered by Tarasu Kobayashi.

It was not a pretty sight. Not one bit. All Might needed to remind himself that perhaps something even more dangerous might happen between these children if not supervised thoroughly. Even so, he would be lying if he didn't say that he wasn't prepared for any possible outcomes from the _last_ Battle Trial that he conducted with the Hero Course of Class 1-A.

Honestly, All Might should've said that he was prepared for any of Jun's possible outbursts just because of the fact that there was someone _very_ similar to him in the Hero Course.

"All Might, can I ask you something?" Adachi spoke up, earning All Might's attention. "Tell me in all honesty, what do you think of delinquents?"

"Like the kids here?"

"No, not quite, I meant like the villainous kind." His voice seemed dark. "Robbers, murderers, and money launderers."

All Might was taken aback, it was his turn to look conflicted. " **There is no place for those who shed blood without a reason.** "

"And if there was a reason?"

"… **Justifiable or not, murder is still murder. It's a line you cross and can't go back to. But that does not mean something must be entirely pure for it to be good. A road that leads to inhumanity that's paved with good intentions is still going to go somewhere. It's your decision, and it's honestly not my place to judge, even at prepubescent children. But I am a Hero, and it is my job to punish those who kill without a sane goal.** " All Might told him. " **Wouldn't you say the same? It shouldn't have anything to do with Hamada, would it?** "

Adachi scoffed. "You say that as if we had a choice to choose between kill or be killed."

All Might paled, realizing what he meant.

"Did Jun also had to make the same decision?" He wanted to understand, he really did, but to finally learn that one person amongst them had once dirtied their hands with a stranger's blood was too much to digest.

"There was a time, you know," Adachi responded at once, "when I talked to him about his dreams."

All Might lifted his chin in interest. " **Oh?** "

"I have never seen anyone with such passion for being strong, as if he was afraid of being weak. If I hadn't met him, he would've been a villain with no means of turning back. I honestly couldn't the say the same as of now." Adachi told him, before he hung his head. "Everyone asked if I was mad when I suggested him as a student. But in reality, Jun was quite different from any regular villain son. He was convinced to be a sole survivor in the world. A world where no one will always hate him for his power."

All Might understood now, and he needed to remind himself of what the HRI was supposed to represent. " **Ah, I see… That would explain his chronic fear of death, then…** "

He was then suddenly reminded of what Kaori Tsukinose had shouted at Jun, and it almost made him sick.

"But I tried, I just couldn't understand." Adachi harrumphed. "Even after all these years, he was still the same. Which is why I tried to hard to change his mindset."

All Might went silent. " **And whose fault is that?** "

Adachi shot him a glance. "You think this is my fault? I'm sorry I couldn't have just left him in the prison there to rot! I was only thinking for his best."

The Pro Hero couldn't believe the sudden change in attitude, almost as if he wasn't even realizing the bigger part of this: himself.

All Might averted his gaze to the other screen, finally seeing the figure of Jun who had just fell limp into the floor to have finally gotten back up. Then, Adachi's eyes widened in surprise, he wanted to shout on top of his lungs to have Jun notice him from the other part of the school.

He could see Jun through the static that shook the screen and what it was showing. He gritted his teeth, feeling himself suddenly getting more and more anticipated. All Might was the same, he was surprised to see the shorter male to be able to stand again.

… until it all crumbled down to nothing.

His heart sank back down to the abyss that was his chest, his excitement reduced to nothing, and as he watched Jun standing there, facing Tarasu once more with an iron fist, he was suddenly reminded of one crucial flaw.

His heart raced, before turning to All Might once more. "I'm going out."

All Might and Adachi stared at each other, with the former being taken aback by the intensity in Adachi's tone.

" **Calm yourself, Adachi!** " All Might reassured him, the thought of one particular explosive boy crossed his mind. " **Please stay and watch! This is a great opportunity for him to learn, Mr. Adachi.** "

"No." Adachi said with a stern voice, but his composure was almost close to breaking. "No, I don't want to see this! He's just going to _hate me again_!"

Silence overwhelmed them, and it was bad enough that the other children were still in the same room with them. But All Might had already thought of the whole activity through, from both the fight to Adachi's reaction.

Back with Class 1-A, perhaps he had learned something from a certain green haired student. It was not about winning, it's about learning _how_ to win. Everyone back then had already showed a lot of potential in teamwork-based activities, even if it meant leaving one of them hurt or left behind. It was a start, but it showed him what it meant when push comes to shove.

Everyone will try to win, even in the slightest chance that they had in the first place. This is the case for Jun Hamada; the boy who had been the centerpiece of the what was wrong with the class.

Winning should be easy for him if it wasn't for his disability, but the world cannot take such results. All Might could not take such results. Winning or losing, he needed to make sure that Adachi watched the battle from start to finish.

If it will take that much to convince him, then it was all All Might needed.

" _Not yet, Mr. Adachi!"_ His inner Yagi Toshinori pleaded. _"Look at Jun Hamada, look at how he's still trying to give it all even when he was conflicted by your expectations against him!"_

The two adults stared at each other, tension rising between them. Until a certain voice called out to them from one of the children.

"Look, Mr. Adachi." It was Yato Shimura's voice. His tone seemed urging. "Something's wrong with Jun."

Adachi snapped his head at the screen, looking for the right monitor that showed the right video feed of Jun Hamada anywhere. His eyes came across the sight of a little boy kneeling on the ground, clutching at his heart in pain. Adachi couldn't see his face clearly, but Jun was clearly in pain.

A single word breathed out of the mouth of Mr. Adachi, "No…"

All Might was looking far more distraught, _"Get up, young Hamada! Show Mr. Adachi what you can do!"_

Both the children and the teachers continued watching the battle unveil, the only sound that busied the room was the one that came from the surround sound that boomed the area with voices of angry shouting and screaming.

It was horrid to listen to, even when they could see the pain and suffering happening right in front of them.

This was not a teamwork-based exercise anymore, this was _killed or be killed._

But neither All Might nor Adachi had lost their hopes, for deep inside their hearts they knew they were rooting for the heroes to win.

* * *

 **Battle Simulation Field -** **07:30 a.m.**

* * *

Dust crept into Jun Hamada's snot filled nose. His body aching to be put into rest as he found himself unable to pick himself up from the floor that he laid on. The brunette brushed lightly at the sweat drenched face that filled his eyes through the waterfall running down his bruised forehead.

He could feel it all over his body: bruises, scars, and aches that tore his body apart. He tried picking himself up again, one last attempt to finish it all. He gritted his teeth as the muscles on his forearm shivered and tremored under his own limp weight. Like pushing himself through a hundred pushups at once.

But that wasn't the worst part of it. Deep within his chest he can feel his heart slowly tightening, the veins in his throat began to pulse in a soft yet last-minute velocity. He was slowly getting deoxygenized.

" _Shit…"_ Jun cursed to himself, running his sweaty hands against his neck, feeling himself getting harder and harder to breathe. _"Not now! Not now! NOT NOW!"_

Lone footsteps made him flinch on where he stood.

The boy watched as the dusty horizon around him began to disperse, and the light rays that lit up the room struck at the monstrosity in front of him.

"Well, then, Hamada. Ready for round two?" It taunted at him.

Just as the light rays from above highlighted the form in front of him, his eyes were suddenly blinded by a sudden flash of white that struck across his face. The deformed figure of Tarasu Kobayashi filled his vision. Then, he realized that, after several minutes of relentless fighting, he had not even lay one scratch on the diamond-cladded knight.

Precisely a knight, for at the top of his curled-up hand protruded a rather jagged looking crystal, elongated to the point of it being similar to a sword.

It struck fear in the heart of Jun Hamada, for he could no longer achieve an upper hand as far as he could see.

The brunette felt cornered… afraid… desperate.

And _he_ was watching him feel all these conflicted emotions!

While gritting his teeth, Jun looked straight at Tarasu in the eye. "Why are you still talking? I'm not done yet." He taunted, trying to confide himself in a brief, less-suspenseful situation.

But Tarasu seemed more than happy to throw back an insult straight at him.

"Wow, you are a tough nut to crack!" He laughed, opening up his crystalized arms to show how his chest rose at the way he boasted. "Can't you understand where you stand?! I can't believe you're this stupid!"

Jun made a scowling look, a deadly glare shot at Tarasu's direction from the single eye that was visible from the gaps of the thick bangs of his brunette hair. He didn't like being called stupid. Bit even so, he didn't have the energy to spit back at him. His poison's all gone but the sheer force he had left in his body could still perhaps give him an advantage.

When he set Kaori off to help Seiji Orimura in finding their target rocket, he realized the length he needed to go for him to _win_. He couldn't run, not when this homicidal maniac could still probably chase him down. And furthermore, there were still two opponents for his team to deal with.

But he didn't care, not when he _knew_ he could win without anybody helping him. It was his only goal an he felt like it was fair to give his 'teammates' a head start.

He just needed to keep Tarasu talking until he finds a way out, destroy the building, and bury his opponent under it. It shouldn't be a problem for him considering his Quirk was to make possibly anything solid to tumble down into dust and debris.

"You don't have a way out! And it was all thanks to me!" Tarasu kept scoffing, leering at Jun's way. "Your friends wouldn't be able to get to the rocket in time, idiot! And since you're stuck in here with _me_ , I can say that your chances of winning are… about zero!"

Jun wanted to sigh, he really did. He was too tired to lash out and scream every curse word he knew at Tarasu for him to even make the first move of punching him square in the face first. The crystallizer had been going on about how he had the upper hand ever since they had been going at it for about one minute, and it made Jun sick.

How can anyone run their mouth in the middle of the battle like that? It actually reminded him of Adachi, who had talked to him in a soothing voice as he pinned him down onto the ground.

It actually made Jun feel a lot worse by reminiscing back. If only Adachi was actually here, Jun would've gone for him instead.

But for now, he'd like to punch Adachi in the gut by _winning_ … all by himself.

"Do you even realize what's going on?!" Tarasu rambled on again. "I had _so_ much faith in you! But then again, you _were_ the one who fell first! I gotta hand it to you, though, for lasting this long. Too bad there's nothing else you can do—"

"Nothing?" Jun suddenly breathed out, grinning a fanged smile. "I can still rip out your motherfucking spine and beat the HELL out of the two of your lackeys!"

Jun had thrown it all away; his sanity, his restrains… he just needed to get to the rocket! It was easier said than done, Jun knew that. But he had no choice, he _needed_ to win! He couldn't bring himself to look at the face of Adachi if he didn't.

After all this time… Adachi will now finally see how he wouldn't _ever_ need him again!

"So aggressive…" Tarasu purred, casting a devilish smirk as he bowed down his head. "You sure you want to keep going, Hamada? I can still find it in my heart to spare you, you know?"

Jun didn't care, his savage nature was ready to be spilled out. With a plan already set out, he reached to the back of his belt. In his hand he then held a metallic mask, shaped only to fit the front of his face with build-in with a circular cone-shaped muzzle.

As he put it on, his eyes were then covered with goggles of crimson, designed to give him more intimidation. As the mask was fitted in place, he took a deep breath in.

"Keep talking and you'll find your FACE BLOWN IN!" In a sudden adrenaline rush, he sped forward.

With the last ounce of his strength, coursing through his stinging, trembling arms, Jun moved forward. He cocked back his continuously vibrating arm, ignoring the pain that rose from his sore muscles.

Tarasu had found himself something interesting at last; the will to fight and survive. He ran ahead, his diamond spike that protruded out of his right arm pulled back for an incoming fatal slash. He wouldn't kill Jun, not when Suki Takara's plan was in motion.

He knew the risk of failing, which was why he was sucking up to a girl his age for once.

But that didn't matter, not when he was close to winning.

Jun had exactly the same thoughts, but the ultimate resolve that wrapped around his mind was not because of something as trivial as 'teamwork'. When he thought of punching, he would only think of one thing: _Adachi_.

Their running footsteps filled the empty halls as dust under their feet began to scatter. Hell was about to be unleashed, _again_.

" _Witness me, Adachi…"_

Jun and Tarasu was almost face to face, with the diamond sword mere inches away from stabbing at Jun's shoulder. Little did Tarasu knew… Jun had already come prepared. Even when he was looking at the devil, cladded in crystal, straight in his maniacal eye.

" _WITNESS ME, GODDAMMIT!"_

And then, Jun's fist went down. His body missed the tip of the sword in just a mere second, right before his vibrating fist collided with the floor.

 **KER-BOOOOOOOM!**

The floor exploded into a million tiny debris, scattering all over the place as the ground shook at the contact similar to that of a meteor. The surrounding pillars began to tilt, cracking and breaking in the process as the ground that caved in in the center of them began to pull them in.

The two teenage males were then falling into the darkness below, the ground had already swallowed them up.

Tarasu's bewildered expression was exactly what Jun wanted to see as he fell. Darkness engulfed him as the building began to start crumbling down from the middle down.

.

Two people stopped at their tracks, both looking back towards the sudden tremor that shook below them.

Kaori Tsukinose suddenly felt a spine chilling sensation as she took upon a pose of alertness; looking around the surrounding with a rather concerned expression. She looked towards her companion, Seiji Orimura, to search for some sort of reassurance. His face conveyed the feeling of great fear under the hanging lights above them.

But when the concrete under them began to crack and tremble, she found none.

The two could feel themselves losing more and more balance as the hallway around them started to crumbled and break down. Dust and debris began to stack up into a heap, and, from the other end of the hallway in which they were standing on, lights began to flicker.

And just before they knew it, darkness had already engulfed the far side of the hallway behind them. Until they realized that the darkness was gaining, and it was gaining fast.

"The roof's closing down on us!" Seiji shouted out in sudden horror. "Let's get out of here before—"

He stopped, just as his hand subconsciously tried to pull Kaori away from where they stood. He saw her standing there awestruck, frozen rigid into the floor.

He had no time to ask her what was wrong. "KAORI!"

She was then brought back to life, her eyes meeting up with his wide ones. She began to sputter, quickly regaining her composure. "R-Right!"

The two began to sped away from the incoming darkness, the storm of concrete dusts began to reach them first. The hallway kept tremoring violently, unknown to them why. But they had a pretty good idea of what was wrong.

With their hearts lodged in their throats, the two began to start avoiding the debris that was coming down from the nearly fallen apart walls around them.

They were not going to survive long in this mess.

Kaori tried her best to remember the outline of the building around them, calculating every possible way out that she could muster with her mental strength. Just as she was near giving up in the moment she felt the oncoming wind of dust scratch at her neck, she saw light in front of them, and the hallway began to expand.

Much to their sudden deathly panic, the floors below them started to crack with a loud crunching noise. They were not going to make it.

With their lungs almost close to giving up, burning the insides of their chests as they ran for their lives, the rumbling sound of the roof falling down on them were only a few feet away. The light seemed so close, yet so unreachable.

But Kaori still had a trick up her sleeve, one that even she knew that it might not work.

With an iron will, she took out one of her throwing knives. She lifts the tip of her blade just at the level of her eye, she couldn't miss this shot.

Giving everything her muscles had in her arm, the knife flew ahead of both Seiji and her with a quick throw.

She could feel the floor under her sinking down. Instinctively, she pounced her companion with both her arms wrapping around his body before the both of them disappear in a flash of light, the hallway disappearing in a dusty, dark mess.

Just as they were once running with all their might, the two heroes could feel themselves hitting the air once more, but neither their feet were touching the ground.

With a loud thud, they landed on the ground before skidding out of the building. Behind them, straight from the darkness inside the backdoor exit, a gust of dusty wind exploded out of the hallway. The exit collapsed under its own weight, much like the foundation around it.

As the two teenagers began picking themselves up, they saw the aftermath that almost took their lives. The two made quite the bewildered faces as the building in front of them began to fall apart, it was a miracle how it all didn't fall down at once.

The two still had themselves trying to wrap their heads around the situation, but they had a pretty good idea what was happening.

"Jun…" Seiji unknowingly breathed out, not realizing what he was doing until Kaori suddenly shot up.

She pressed her finger into her ear, hurriedly trying to get a good signal. "Jun! Jun! Are you hurt?! Hello?... Stupid transmitter… come on!"

Seiji had also trying to lift himself up, brushing himself off of any dust that got caught in his clothes. He wanted to interject into whatever Kaori was having a problem with, for as far he knew their earpiece frequency wasn't going to be caught by anything anywhere, and also because he couldn't find it in his courage to try and intrude her while she was running back and forth in a troubled state.

But time's running out, he needed to keep them both in the path towards their goal. If they didn't, then Jun's effort would be for nothing. Even so, Seiji himself had no intention of backing down just yet.

"I don't… mean to interrupt but…" Seiji started, walking hastily towards her, "… we still have a rocket to secure. If we don't get to that quick, the time will run out!"

Kaori looked at him with uncertain eyes. "But he wouldn't last long if we just leave him there! All of this would be in vain!"

"You say that like he's going to die!" Seiji said in incredulity, grabbing her shoulder with a tight yet reassuring grip. "He's not! Okay? He's much stronger than all of us! He's going to be fine!"

The two stared at each other in a standstill, before Kaori began to take a deep breath to calm herself down. "Y-you're right. We can still get to the rocket if we hurry."

"Good." Seiji told her with a nod. "Come on, we shouldn't waste—"

Just before he could finish his sentence, the abandoned mall behind them let out a loud explosive **BOOM!** The two of them just stared at the building with a massive jolt in their chests.

"We need to get out of here…" Seiji implied as he felt the ground starting to shake, taking Kaori's wrist in his grasp.

The girl looked at him with eyes full of resolve, she seemed to have regained her purpose. Seiji could understand her conflicted feelings very clearly, he too realized what it meant to leave Jun to himself, fighting with all of his might with a disability that would kill him.

The two immediately made their way into a different area outside of the abandoned mall, their surroundings were now even larger than before with metallic beams upon metallic beams were placed into an unfinished foundation of what seemed to be the extension of the mall. The sun glared above them, giving them no time to refresh themselves.

Kaori had heeded to Seiji, saying that she would try to give them a different route, implying that she wanted to ambush the villain team.

She didn't say where, though. And Seiji couldn't believe he had found himself leaping over concrete buildings to concrete buildings, trying to catch up with Kaori's unbelievable speed and stamina.

He wasn't sure if the world around them was the same anymore, everything seemed so… post-apocalyptic. The buildings around them, and the ones they could see from afar, were grey and dull with hints of falling apart or wasn't even being finished building at all. Everything seemed distorted and rather cold, despite the fact that it was the beginning of summer.

His companion and him found themselves standing upon a lone building, almost looking out of place with the giant mall right at the center of the artificial city, with metallic pipes surrounding them on the ground level from every side.

" _Odd… seemed like something is awfully wrong with the surroundings…"_ Kaori deduced, looking around her. _"I can't spot Takara nor Takehiro anywhere. Have they already left the area? Then why go through so much to keep Jun busy? Had they already know we were coming?"_

They began to lose sight of the old world, as the new one seemed so alien.

Maybe it was because they had a certain goal in mind, that nothing else mattered. Seiji liked to think that it was for that reason, that he kept going, pushing himself to win even if it was a friendly activity.

He needed something to prove himself with, something that gives him the reason to keep going as a hero.

As he pressed on into the concrete wasteland, he heard static in his ear. "W-what?"

Kaori seemed to have heard it as well. "No way… JUN?! JUN! CAN YOU HEAR ME?!"

A shout, an angry one at that. And sounds of struggling, painfully.

" **BZZZT** _…_ I… I… I'M GOING TO **—BZZZT—** WIN! GRAAAAAAAH!"

The two heroes exchanged troubled glances. The sound of static and screaming still ringing in their ears.

.

"Oi! Oi! Oi!" Tarasu said in panic, the diamonds protruding from his body beginning to dissolve. "Don't fight it you idiot, are you crazy?!"

Below him was Jun, layers upon layers of crystal pining him down to the giant pile of debris that the two fighters were on. Tarasu pushed Jun down with every inch of his leftover strength, enough to keep the tremor-boy busy until the time runs out and his team wins.

Yeah, that was the plan, alright. Keep Jun busy, leave the rest to Suki Takara, should he fail to take down the three of them. Easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy.

But Jun was making it harder than it sounded.

Tarasu had been struggling against him for what felt like an eternity now. Jun was lucky he wasn't being serious and killing him in the process, but the shorter boy was seriously testing his patience.

By now, a lot of sane people would've given up, implying that they had been thrown around, punched, kicked, and even having his clothes ripped open by diamond spikes. But Jun had not showing any signs of backing down at all, as he kept a firm grip against the arm that held him down.

Tarasu could also feel the debris below him beginning to jump along with him, almost as if an earthquake was pulsing powerfully through the mall. Centering from where Jun was.

"Kuh… how irritating…" He said with a light click of his tongue. "Good grief, you're pathetic!"

Hearing this, Jun started to go rampant. He was _not_ pathetic! He kicked the rocks under him, squirming under the growing mass of crystals on his chest while being pressed down, he kept sending in powerful pulses from the depths of his chest to break everything around him in order to break free.

Yet, the pain was unbearable. His head was stinging from the tremor, and his muscles could almost not take anymore of the shockwaves that his own body created. But most importantly, he could not breathe, thanks to Tarasu's crystal weight and his own weak lungs.

"Not yet…! Not yet…!" Jun growled out loudly from his sore throat, hidden under his mask, still trying to push away Tarasu's overgrown hand with all his might. "NOT FUCKING YET!"

"Stop it! Oi, stop it!" Tarasu tried to reprimand, feeling his layers of crystal slowly breaking away from all the shockwaves that Jun kept pumping into his surroundings. "You're already dead! You can't possibly think of a way out of this, you suicidal bastard! Give up! You're weak! You're weak! You're not helping _anyone_ in this situation!"

But Jun had not heard anything, from the depths of his mind he was already lost in anger and desperation. With his teeth gritting violently, he pushed through his limits, the layers of crystals breaking on top of him as he forced himself to get up.

His furious, blood-crazed eyes stared deeply into Tarasu's soul from underneath his crimson googles.

"FUCK… YOUUUUUU!"

From the palm of his hands, grasping at the upper arm of Tarasu, he let out another wave of earth shattering quake. And then, like breaking the tip of a Prince Rupert's drop, the crystal overgrown that held him down shattered to millions upon millions of little salt mounds.

With a loud bark, Jun pulled Tarasu down once he was freed. And then, with a strong vibration flowing through his right arm, he punched Tarasu square in the jaw.

 **CRACK!** Goes the sound of the crystal bones under Tarasu's skin, his head was pushed sideways, a giant sensation of pain spread over his face as Jun's Quirk blew out most his teeth away.

But he was barely flinching, his body was as rigid as ice almost as if everything that formed his figure was made of diamonds. He took about a second to grasp the shockwave that blew out from the tip of Jun's knuckles. He looked down at his opponent, giving a mildly annoyed glare as his jaw was fixing itself mere seconds later.

But Jun took no time for it to finish fixing, he quickly pulled himself up from the ground before pouncing Tarasu from the front, pushing him down from above as he fueled his hands with a good ounce of his Quirk.

As the momentum unknowingly pulled Tarasu backwards, Jun already had his hands spread over Tarasu's face. And as they landed onto the debris, Jun immediately let out everything he had on the palm of his hand, resulting in another giant shock explosion on Tarasu's face.

"I'M GOING TO WIN!" He shouted, pumping more shockwaves into Tarasu's face. "I'M GOING TO WIIIIN!"

And before he knew it, he was flipped onto his back as Tarasu suddenly grabbed at his wrists. Jun could feel the pain as he landed to the hard debris front side first on his cheekbone. His arm was locked in place as Tarasu had the higher ground once again, pining him down with his foot this time while his other grabbed Jun's wrist in a painful angle.

With a loud crack, Tarasu twisted the hand of his fallen opponent.

Jun's painful scream filled the caved in room, his voice rang through the halls. Tarasu would have been smiling in satisfaction, yet his face showed no signs of feeling pleasure. As it was close to being disfigured from Jun's shock blown directly his bones.

Static buzzed at his earpiece, they couldn't have picked a better time to call him.

"What the hell— **BZZZT** —'s going on in there?!" The voice of a disbelieved Date Takehiro filled his ear. "We can feel the fucking tremor from all the way here, can you take Hamada down or not?!"

With his teeth gritted, Tarasu shouted into the air. "You fucking… Can't you just fucking wait?! Huh?! Huh?! I'm doing it, asshole! I'm doing it! Tell Takara to kiss my ass once I get this fucker—"

His words were cut off by a sudden force from below him, Jun wasn't down yet.

"I'm… I'm…!" Jun choked out before exploding, "I'M JUN FUCKING HAMADA!"

And before Tarasu knew it, Jun crashed his head into the pile of debris under him. The results were catastrophic, and the two of them once again fell down into a dark pit towards the level below them. The giant powerful earthquake stopped instantly the moment the two teenagers were engulfed by darkness, along with more of the floors from their first and second level caving in, creating a bigger destruction to the insides of the mall.

.

"Hello?!"

A pair of high heels clicked around the concrete ground impatiently as the person wearing it was hastily walking back and forth with her finger in her ear.

"Hello?!"

Date watched from afar, also silently waiting for a response from Tarasu. But what came after was only static.

" **BZZZT!** —'m doing it— **BZZZT! —** hole! I'm doing it! — **BZZZT!** –"

"HEY!" Suki shouted to the air. "Are the heroes taken down, or not?! HELLO?!"

She scraped off the earpiece from her ear, looking at it in disgust as she looked at it while being held between two fingers in front of her. She threw it to the ground with all her strength, breaking it in contact to the concrete.

"Goddammit…" Suki Takara cursed as she had already given up on Tarasu.

She stood by one of her lackeys, Date Takehiro, who merely stared at her in bewilderment. He was standing next to the giant artificial rocket, while he himself was leaning against a lone wall near him.

Suki slowly started to breathe more properly, feeling herself calming down in the process. "Okay, alright, everything's going according to plan. Both Orimura and Tsukinose are already onto us, Kobayashi is still engaged in a fight with Hamada… yeah… yeah… that's good, that's… great… Tsukinose is close and I… and this time I will beat her down…"

"Uhhh, yeah…" Date suddenly piped in, feeling a tad bit uncomfortable watching a girl dressed in an illusionist's costume stressing on about killing someone. "Wouldn't it be… y'know… logical to just have me run out of here with the rocket in my hand? I mean, I could actually run a fucking mile in a minute…"

Suki averted her gaze to her teammate. "No, stay here. Don't let the rocket out of your sight."

"What?" Date asked in confusion. "Why?"

"BECAUSE I SAID SO!" Suki shouted at him, forcing Date to reel back. "DON'T MAKE ME FUCKING ASK YOU TWICE!"

She strode away with her eyes casted downwards, her heartbeat hammering against her ribcage in a sudden rush of aggravation that filled her chest. She tipped the front of her top hat as she stopped by the edge of the building roof that she stood on. Under her was a descent, falling into several levels below to another concrete ground, filled with dozens upon dozens of metal beams spread across the land.

An oncoming breeze rushed through her ear. The faint smell of cement entered her nose, her surroundings giving off the imminent feeling of dystopia. Around her was just empty space, like a parking lot with no cars.

Empty, just like her heart.

" _After I win… there will be nothing slowing me down anymore…"_ She said to herself as she stared at her curled-up fist. _"I can do it… I can push my Quirk to my limits if it meant winning!"_

Should Kaori find them here, she wouldn't have a chance to ambush the from anywhere, as they would be levels above the ground floor. They probably needed to do a lot of climbing if they wished to get up to this point from below. Regardless, Suki was _dying_ to meet her.

After a few seconds, Suki sighed, her shoulders slouching down. Why was she doing this? This too much of a bother for her to do… Her heart welled up in regret and confusion, but some part of her knew that she had to do this.

If she didn't, she couldn't become more than she was… just a plaything.

That's all she ever was, a _thing_ to be played around. She needed to show the world that they had not a chain to hold her down and pull her away from what she wanted to become.

What a joke, she couldn't believe that she had agreed with Jun out of everyone else… just because she believed that nobody should ever be pushed around by anyone. She would be lying if she hadn't cringed when she heard Kaori Tsukinose and him screaming in the background of Tarasu's frequency.

She was still as high on her horse as a skyscraper, Suki assumed. And she couldn't believe she had used up all these months living with such stuck-up _bitch_.

If beating her was all it took to prove Suki's worth, then she didn't need to do anything else.

Yes… it all came down to climbing up to the top of the ladder _by herself_. She was stronger than all of them, and she never had the luxury of being helped by anyone.

She had no choice; her way was the only way.

Both Suki and Dater heard something whistling, they averted their gazes towards the source of said noise. They realized that they were then looking upwards towards the sky as a gleaming object dived down onto them.

They didn't know what it was, but it was coming for Suki. Before they knew that a knife was literally falling down on her face, a bright light took over their visions.

In a split second, Suki felt the world freeze as she stared into the eyes of Kaori Tsukinose; holding a knife over her throat.

The same eyes reflected the abhorrence inside, mirroring her opponent.

This was going to be the endgame.

.

 **CRACK!**

 **POW!**

Tarasu flew across the room as Jun's fist connected with his nose. A sickening crack rang out across the room as the diamond-cladded boy crashed into several more pillars, burying him with the floor above them that fell victim to the lack of support beams.

But what came after was even more painful as Jun suddenly curled up, hugging at his punching arm in great agony.

"AAAARRGH!" He cried out. Tears, sweat, and drool dripped down his chin as he kept holding on to his arm.

Seconds later, he went on to curse the universe inside his head, hoping that would drive the pain out. Huffing deeply, biting the inner walls of his cheeks, these were the methods he used to keep himself alive.

He stood by another mountain of concrete debris, dust smoke covering every inch of his body. His costume was in tatters, his mask had one of his crimson goggles cracked, and the metallic knuckles on top of his shaky hand had already been bent several times from every time he threw a punch.

His breaths turned raspy, his lungs burning in exhaustion. And worse of all, he couldn't seem to create anymore shockwaves from the tip of his fingers.

A sudden realization hit him.

He was…

He had lost the ability to activate his Quirk.

With a rather shaken expression, he lifted his arms up. His eyes stared hopelessly at his violently shaking hands, almost as if they were _broken_. Had his Quirk backfired on him? Was this the risk he took just to give it all?

NO!

IT WAS NOT ENOUGH!

" _Come on, you little shit…"_ Jun cursed to himself as he tried to clasp his hands together to shake the violent shaking on his bones. _"I CAN STILL GO OOON!"_

There was still more to him, he believed with every ounce of mental strength left inside his mind. But, in reality, there was a voice in the back of his head thinking that perhaps… he wasn't going to survive.

" _NO! NO! I can… still…"_ Jun rammed his fists to his forehead, trying to drive those thoughts away.

But his mind kept speaking to him, telling him that he wasn't going to win, he wasn't going to live much longer. His mind kept jeering at him about how Tsukinose was right all along, that perhaps he was wrong.

" _FUCK OFF! FUCK OFF!"_ He yelled inside his mind, as his legs were close to giving up.

Slowly, second by second, he managed to find himself kneeling down on top the debris. His words had been hitched inside his throat, only an angry, raspy plead could be heard coming out of his mouth. He was sounding more and more like an animal; a sick, suffering animal… almost slowly marching towards its death.

Jun was more or less the same, the moment he realized that he had probably going to die right then made his head spinning in explosions upon explosions of emotions. Fear and hopelessness, anger and hatred, the four of them waged war inside his mind.

He was dying.

That was right.

Which was why he couldn't give up just yet.

He still needed to prove something.

A groan brought him out of his inner conflicts, making him unknowingly realize that he himself was crying from the pain that shook his entire body from top to bottom. He stopped thinking completely, feeling a sudden shudder running down his spine.

He proceeded to get himself off of his kneeling position, slowly managing to get himself to stand straight.

He looked forward, waiting for the dust cloud to disperse. Until a bare-bodied teenager came to view.

"Ah jas kan' ge' i' 'hrough ya, kan ae?" Tarasu slurred, his body slowly sliding down the broken pillar that he had crashed into earlier. With his hand on his chin, he repositioned his joints with a light cracking noise. "How long do you plan on taking me on?"

His voice seemed different, miles away from the maniacal laugh that he had gave off just minutes ago, almost as if he was too tired to do so.

But to Jun, something about him seemed more… terrifying.

Unknowingly, the shorter boy took a wary step back, subconsciously pulling himself back. The bravado that he once had, the boldness that shaped every inch of his effort, all had disappeared in the blink of an eye.

"Oi… Hamada… I'm speaking to you…" Tarasu called out again, his dark eyes met with Jun's. "Do you think I'm an idiot? You think I wouldn't notice every time you grabbed the cloth on your chest plate? Or every time you start to convulse when you let out a shockwave?"

He lifted himself up from where he had sat; on the floor in front of the half bent giant concrete pillar behind him. Still eyeing Jun in the eye.

Jun could only stare in disbelief, wondering how after everything he had given the fight was still not done yet.

"You got guts, Hamada. I'll give you that." Tarasu told him. "But in the end… you're just going to _lose_ anyway!"

Step… Step… Goes the muffled sound of Tarasu's bare feet hitting against the concrete floor, every debris and pebble under his feet let out a loud crunching noise. From the tip of his knuckles, diamonds began to grow and grow until the upper side of his hand was nothing more than light blue and crystal.

Jun could feel himself taking more and more steps back, even if he did scream into his head telling himself to stop. Subconsciously, his body knew he couldn't take anymore.

"You hear that!?" Tarasu suddenly barked out. "You are only prolonging the inevitable! How infuriating! You're doing _nothing_ to help anyone at all, not even yourself!"

Jun suddenly stopped moving, his feet rooted to the ground.

"Listen here, you little bastard!" Tarasu suddenly barked at him, his diamond grown fists clenching and cracking. "You think I'm playing?! You're a mere second away from being six feet underground! And what the hell are you doing about it?!"

Jun started shaking, but the pain was not there anymore. Only slowly boiling anger.

"You're wasting… every strength that you have, do you even realize that?! I can't stress it anymore of how _stupid_ you actually are!" Tarasu shouted at him, the ridge of his cheekbones began to be filled with protruding diamonds. "You're nothing! You're useless! Every effort that you can hope to give can only fucking hurt yourself even more! Jesus, how can anyone be so fucking stupid as you?!"

"Shut up."

Seconds later, everything seemed to be running out of time. His life, his goal, and even his hopes. All almost seemed in vain.

Until a mild static rang his ear.

"Jun!" Spoke the voice from his earpiece, one belonging from Seiji Orimura. "Jun, get out of there— **BZZZT! —** need your help! Kaori's in danger and I don't think we can hold our position long! You need to—"

"I can still fight…" Jun said under his breath.

Silence.

"… W-what?"

"I CAN STILL FUCKING FIGHT!"

Tarasu stopped, eyeing Jun in mild shock.

Jun merely casted a downwards gaze, but his eyes are still level-headed with Tarasu Kobayashi. His body rigid, unmoving between the winds of dust and chaos. Tension began to build between them, almost as if they were waiting to see who would strike first.

Jun made a loud sigh, looking up from where he stood. His eyes seemed different. They were red, bloodshot from the cries of pain. But something else seemed familiar within it.

"Just shut up and fight me." He continued on, now towards the opponent in front of him.

"What the hell..." Tarasu remarked, feeling a bit underwhelmed. "But you're also the single most fucking delusional guy I have ever met."

"LOOK AT ME!" Jun suddenly burst out, earning an echo bouncing around him as he faced his opponent with a beastlike scowl. "LOOK AT ME AND TELL ME THAT I'M STILL ALIVE! TELL ME THAT I CAN STILL FIGHT!"

Something about his anger seemed indirectly directed. Tarasu had the feeling that he wasn't actually 8talking to him, but rather, it was like every inch of his mind was speaking to someone who he had been hating for a long time now.

Someone who was oh-so different from Jun, enough to made him abhor their existence.

Tarasu felt like he had just flipped a switch in Jun. In lest than a second later, he heard him shout.

"I'M GOING TO WIN! I'M GOING TO FUCKING WIN AND YOU CAN'T STOP ME!"

His rage rang through the halls, between the pillars and through the dust filled hallways. Tarasu could only stare in awe and disbelief, feeling rather disregarded.

The two stared each other, moments after, they rushed at each other again. Jun, now putting aside all of his physical pain, he cocked back his arm for another strike, one that would kill Tarasu Kobayashi in the instant it connected with his body.

As the vibrating fist clashed with a shield made out of the diamonds, the interior of the mall exploded with a loud **THOOOOOM!**

.

"NGHHH—GAH!" Kaori screamed out as she flopped down onto the concrete ground with painful thud.

She scrambled on her limbs, her body sweating profusely. With a forced glance, she looked up, biting her lips trying to hold down her infuriation as she let her gaze fall upon the towering Suki Takara.

The illusionist merely clicked her tongue, watching the great Kaori Tsukinose rendered completely powerless and at the mercy of her Quirk, moments before the purple haze in her eyes wore off. Gullible, completely gullible. She couldn't wait to find herself finally at the winning spot, rubbing salt on the wounds of her fallen enemies.

As Kaori writhed on the ground, trying to regain her composure, Suki went through all the things that somehow made her opponent's ambush go wrong.

One simple abnormality in her plan: Seiji Orimura was nowhere to be seen.

Suki merely glanced sideways at her companion, Date Takehiro, to confirm that he himself had not seen anyone from here to a mile away.

With a sigh, Suki turned to Kaori once again. "Really? And you think you can convince me saying that he's not here?"

"I… told you," Kaori winced, but still strong nonetheless, "there's just me… I'm going to be the one who'll win the match!"

"So confident…" Suki remarked with a disgusted scowl. And then, she swung her foot straight into Kaori's stomach, earning a pained gasp from her. "I HATE IT!"

Date could only watch in silent, still holding on to the giant rocket while leaning idly onto a wall. Deep inside he knew that it was never his place to interfere with whatever Suki Takara was dealing with, not that he would care about it in the first place, but somehow, she had been acting more… solely dependent even though the whole point of the Battle Trial was to practice teamwork.

He was at a standstill, but he wanted to win as well, that part didn't need to be questioned once again. But even so, it didn't feel like it had been worth all the effort. Why would it have had to? It's not like Suki's letting him do anything in the first place.

Not even letting him find Seiji Orimura, for instance. He knew that that was the top priority, but why wasn't she letting themselves focus on that?

"You people _disgust_ me so much!" Suki hissed in anger as she continued on to hit Kaori with the bottom side of her shoe. "You're probably thinking about how you're going to get out of this mess, yeah? You think you have some sort of trick up your sleeve, don't you?"

She proceeded on to dive her hand down before grabbing locks of Kaori's raven black hair, forcing her closer to Suki's mouth as she bent down to her ear.

"Well, guess what?" Suki taunted, feeling a satisfactory pleasure from Kaori's groans of pain. " _I'm_ going to win all by myself! Maybe then you'll realize how strong I am! Have you realize where you stand, yet, Tsukinose?!"

She threw Kaori's head away from her grasp, before looking towards her surrounding in apparent vexation.

"YOU HEAR THAT, ORIMURA?!" She shouted into the horizon, her voice echoing and reverting back her current overwhelming emotions. "YOU ALL HAVE GOT _NOTHING_ COMPARED TO ME!"

The sheer, hatred filled resolve in her voice shook the atmosphere all by itself. Truly, she wasn't going to let anyone bring her down. Her perseverance had indeed proved to be quite strong. She had come from an abusive family, after all.

Every day was like hell back then, which was why she was going to show them _true hell_ right here, right now. This… this was how she would show her true potential.

The wind caught her standing figure, flapping the hems of her skirt and cape in an ominous way. She was indeed, a descendant of a villain.

Truth be told, Seiji almost actually felt jealous.

Hiding behind a concrete wall, far from where Suki and Kaori was, he gritted his teeth in stress. In his crouching position, he waited patiently for a signal from Kaori. But he doubted that she could do much as she looked much like a trapped animal at this point.

He tried hiding his worry, breathing in and out of his lungs slowly and steadily. This was the moment he actually felt like he was cornered and wasn't given any other options. If all goes according to their plan, then he wouldn't actually had needed Jun's assistance, as he had tried to ask for it, earlier.

But even so, he actually felt like Kaori had been depending on her strength way too much the last couple of times in the Battle Trial. Almost as if she had been worried about losing.

Seiji couldn't understand, but he also felt like he was in some way responsible.

Kaori had been pushing herself too much; for him, for Jun, and for the rest of the class. Why? What was so important about winning that would've meant the whole universe to her.

When she had bickered about with Jun earlier, it was hard to watch. But Seiji had caught on to what they were saying, and the realization hit him like a truck. If he had knew Jun had been holding on to such pain for a while now, he would've tried to do something.

He was the class rep, after all. It was his responsibility.

But the shorter boy made it _so_ hard to approach him, which was why Seiji couldn't bare to let the class fall apart just because he wanted to meddle in some personal affair.

Nevertheless, he was going to be a _hero_.

" _Goddammit, Jun! We can't do this without you, you know!"_ Seiji had thought earlier when Jun had ignored his calls for help. _"Can we do it? Can we prove to him that we can win? If that was what it took to get him to talk to me, then so be it!"_

"Where's Orimura?" Suki spat out calmly, poison was obviously dripping from her lips. Her eyes began to glow purple once more.

The occupants of the roof were then interrupted by a sudden cry of pain, belonging to Kaori Tsukinose. In her point of view, everything seemed chaotic. She couldn't describe the mirage of the suffering that she felt.

Even Date could feel the pain in her mind. He hurriedly approached Suki, "Yo! Hey, come on, what the hell?!"

"STAY THE FUCK BACK!" Suki commanded to him, the haze in her eyes stared at Date's eyes.

He couldn't find it in his giant body any ounce of courage to fight back. But he would be lying to himself if he hadn't said that he wasn't a little bit irritated. _This_ wasn't how you should treat anyone else, rival or otherwise! What was wrong with her?

Seconds passed, and when the hallucinations dispersed, Kaori could only chuckle at the sight of Suki in front of her. "Ask me that again…"

Suki could only grow silent. "We're playing this again, huh? Tch. How can you be so fucking ignorant? I have the high ground! Don't try me!"

Unknown to her, Kaori cracked out a smile. An unhinged one at that. Almost as if her face was smothered in the essence of pure, unshaken relentlessness. Enough to make a man crazy.

She looked up, her smile falling. But she kept a straight face when locking eyes with her opponent. "You're wrong… _I_ do!"

Time stopped, and Suki had no time to comprehend the light that blasted in front of her. Her mind panicked, she knew what this meant, but just before she could interfere with the 'switch' and activate her Quirk, someone else had already taken Kaori's place.

Suki stared into the eyes of Seiji Orimura, now kneeling on the spot Kaori had left on, the grey shade of his pupils marked the determination burning in his heart. In his hand was a throwing knife, enough to fit in his hands.

With a quick swung, he plunged the blade into his thigh.

Pain rushed into his mind, but to Seiji, this was nothing. But to both Suki and Date, as bewilderment struck the expressions of their faces, the sudden burning phantom pain in their thighs made them both reel back in agony.

Seiji wasted no time to pull out the knife seconds later, the blood from his thigh sprayed from his wound. With a quick throw, the knife was flying into the air, aiming at Date as quickly as a bullet.

The lumbering boy gritted his teeth, activating his Quirk to avoid being hit.

With another flash of light, Kaori switched again. But much to her effort, she realized that Date had already disappeared from her line of sight. Her hand had already extended outwards, ready to touch the rocket, only for her effort to be deemed fruitless.

"God… dammit!" Date cursed to himself as he immediately braked his Quirk to stop himself from moving too fast.

The trail that he left behind after he had sped out of harms way, were marked with the hot black blotches from the bottom of his shoe. He looked at Kaori Tsukinose who, after appearing out of nowhere, landing by the place Date had been standing on earlier.

The two stared at each other, tension building up between them.

The rocket was still in his hand, it was safe. He averted his gaze towards Suki, who was too engaged with Seiji at the moment.

"You… fucking dirtbag!" Suki said in irritation at Seiji as her leg gave out from the sudden unknown pain. She stared at him with eyes of purple, the anger in her heart could not be described. "Why did you have to interfere, huh?!"

"Because I'm going to win!" Seiji answered back, the hole in his shorts still gushing out blood. "Whatever it takes!"

"I hate you!" Suki spat back, her throat burning from every hatred that came out of her mouth. "Why can't you just let me win! You're nothing compared to me! _I'm_ stronger, and I'll PROVE IT TO YOU!"

All of a sudden, everything in Seiji's vision turned black.

"AAAAAARGH!" He cried out in pain, his body instinctively clutched itself tightly.

His stomach turned into knots, his legs felled like it was being pulled down to the ground, heavy weight pressed down at his heart like a hydraulic press, and burning, all over his body, like he was being swallowed by the flames of hell.

Suki slowly pulled herself up, walking briskly with an obvious limp on her thigh. Her eyes shown the predatory hue of purple, looking down on the writhing Seiji in abhorrence.

There was hesitation at first, but Suki realized the advantage that she had.

"Well isn't this interesting…" She said with a sneer forming on the edge of her mouth. "Looks like mental pain doesn't trigger your Quirk, huh? _Let's see how you_ _like it_!"

Under all the suffering, Seiji still managed to stop himself from convulsing. Yes, the illusions on his senses were painful, and he did want someone to end his suffering, but nevertheless… it was still _nothing_.

"I-I'm… GAH! –I'm not going to back down!" Seiji said in between pained cries.

Suki could not believe how he was still able to move his limbs despite the fact that she knew for sure that she had forced her Quirk to give him _every_ possible pain that she had remembered all throughout her life.

But little did she know that, compared to Seiji, the latter had more tolerance than meets the eye. The scars on his body, for one, said so.

"Is that… all?!" Seiji taunted, clumsily standing on his two feet while the world around him seemed to have been distorted beyond repair. The way he growled at Suki showed of how incredibly persistent he could be. "I thought that was just a tickle!"

"Shut… up!" Suki had no choice, she had to risk backfiring her Quirk just to push back the boy in front of her.

But before she could do anything, it was already too late. Her Quirk had suddenly started to go haywire, quite possibly from the overuse of it. And just when the illusions began to bounce back to herself, earning a painful gasp from herself, Seiji had unknowingly dashed forward.

In just a second later, the two collided with Seiji wrapping his arms around Suki's waist. Their momentum flung them backwards, straight towards the ledge.

"UWOOOH!" Seiji screamed out, the effects of the illusions still lingering in his head. "I'M SEIJI THE IMMORTAL!"

And in an instant, the two disappeared from sight as they both fell out of the top level of the building.

Date stared in disbelief a split second later, watching them disappear from sight. He was about to let his Quirk activate again, instinctively believing that he could somewhat catch a glimpse of them from the edge, but then another flash of blinding light exploded in front of him

"Oh shit!" He cursed in shock, reeling back and dodging the incoming strike.

He stood up, quickly regaining his composure. As he stared into the eyes of Kaori Tsukinose, he realized that they were the only one left on the upper parking lot. In desperation, Date felt like he was in a dilemma.

But when Kaori struck a pose in front of him, he was brought back to life.

"Your fight is with me!" She challenged, despite the fact that she had ben tortured by Suki earlier.

Unmoving, determined eyes stared into a pair of uncertain ones

"Are you insane?!" Date cried out in incredulity. "Yo! What the—your teammate had just _fell down the building_!"

"All according to plan…" She responded back in a low hiss.

And then, she struck forward, a small knife pointing straight at him, protruding from the gap of her hold. His heartbeat jolted, he knew both him and the rocket was in great danger.

Fortunately for him, he managed to dodge just in time before activating his Quirk once more. And when Kaori was preparing herself for another jump, Date had already dashed away from the scene with what seemed to be a trail of concrete shavings from under his feet.

The lumbering boy zoomed away from sight, going past the many lone walls like drilling himself through a maze. Kaori realized her mistake as she had a difficulty keeping an eye on him.

With a sharp 'tch!' she leaped gracefully towards a lone wall before throwing another knife to the sky. She disappeared in another flash of light, leaving the audience in a cliffhanger.

* * *

 **Monitoring Room -** **07:43 a.m.**

* * *

"Holy fucking shit, what the hell just happened?!"

Mori Kururugi's indeterminate disbelief echoed through the crowd as the class began to turn into a muttering mess.

"How in the hell are they going to survive that fall?" Oboro Kirikagure muttered under his breath.

"Can't you believe the suspense throughout the battle trial?" Yato Shimura said to his teammate, even he himself was taken aback by the sheer intensity in front of him. "It's like watching an anime…"

"Quite… perhaps this might be the correct moment for myself to say: 'Well that escalated quickly'…" Mika Tatsuya commented with a monotone voice, seemingly catching on to Kudou Satou's constant pop culture references.

Everyone else in the room seemed to have lost all of their serenity as the first battle trial seemed to have gone on forever. It hadn't even been past thirty minutes, but the thrill of it made it felt like time had been moving faster in every action that occurred in the artificial city.

Both Tarasu Kobayashi and Jun Hamada, along with Suki Takara, had all earned the title of the most dangerous individual in the room. With Jun and Tarasu both relying on the strength of the offensive and defensive, suppressing each other's powers equally, Suki had shown herself to be quite something else compared to the rest of them.

The class remembered how she went on and had questioned about the decision of the Number One Pro Hero All Might right after they had briefed them about the teamwork training that they were holding earlier today. Perhaps they had thought that Suki was just an awkward character, but the moment she had forced her teammate Date Takehiro to stay back, obsessing about how she was going to win all by her own, they realized how wrong they were.

Jun had also been one of the centers of attentions. There was no doubt that everyone had heard what he and Kaori were bickering about earlier on, but they didn't expect the words 'dying' and 'hypocrite' to come out the raven-haired girl's mouth.

They didn't expect him to be like that at all. But it made so much sense when they started thinking about it.

"You know," Miyu started as she turned to Mori next to her, "there's something I don't understand…"

Mori shot her a confused look, almost as if the both of them were thinking the exact same thing.

"Haven't we have been living under the house with Hamada for about ten months now?" Miyu said to her. "How come we've never noticed anything at all about him? I mean, the guy seemed pretty persistent to use his powers, but it had only been today that it seemed… dangerous… What the hell's up with him?"

The wolf girl had no idea how to answer her question, but before she even opened her mouth, another voice had joined in in their conversation.

"Cardiac tamponade." Said the cheery voice.

And as they glanced sideways, they were met with a shorter boy. His hair struck a light hue of blue, shaggy and unkempt, enough to cover the top part of his large beady eyes. A grin formed under his nose, unknown whether or not it was filled with glee or arrogance.

Kudou Satou merely continued his statement, "It's a clinical syndrome where the heart suffers a compression from the outside, rendering it difficult to pump blood from all the fluid that builds up in the pericardial space. If not treated, pressure would build up on the surface of the heart, thus, reducing ventricular filling, causing an acute failure of blood circulation, and later on, massive organ failure such as pulmonary edema, shock, and death."

Mori and Miyu's face seemed aghast, they couldn't follow every word that came out of the unhinged boy's mouth, but they understood what he meant.

Kudou then proceeded to point at the screen in front of them. "Cardiac tamponade is a medical emergency, and under normal circumstances, Jun should've died at once. But I think that it was due to his Quirk that he can keep himself alive, but certainly not well, for a prolonged period of time. The pericardial heart sac keeps the pericardial fluid around the heart, and in the case of a cardiac tamponade, it should've been impossible for his heart to keep beating under such immense pressure. Perhaps his Quirk triggers the heart to manually control its cardiac output."

He then rambled on to the front of the class, letting everyone hear of what he was saying. "So… in a way, don't you think it's amazing? Jun managed to keep his own heart beating by pumping more and more of his Quirk in it, causing cardiac muscle to pump blood on its own, forcing his heart syndrome at a standby! And not to mention keeping a levelled fight with Tarasu while he is at it!"

Everyone else stared at him in disbelief, unable to express whatever emotions they had flying around their heads. The room went silent, everyone else were staring back at the screen watching the fight between the two would-be gods commence.

It was a fearful thought, to know that death had been waiting at your doorstep, just for you to one day stop making an effort to keep him at bay.

But they still couldn't understand _why_ Jun was willing to go through so much to fight his destiny.

It wasn't like… he was actually trying to be a hero, right?

"It's hard to deduce his illness, not when he was still fighting in full strength without showing any signs of the symptoms. But I'm glad that I could gather up the information myself throughout the months I've been living under him. That being said, I wonder what kind of push he need to fuel his determination…" Kudou wondered, saying every word out loud so the entire room could here.

And then, he unknowingly turned his gaze into the person standing in the back of the monitoring room, making a sly grin, different from his usual maniacal smile.

"Yes… I wonder what it is... _Nee_ ~ Mr. Adachi…?"

The lion-haired man stared at him in obvious bewilderment, but then again, he didn't know what to answer him. He merely averted his gaze back onto the screen, as his heart was torn apart by a dilemma that he couldn't fix.

* * *

 **Battle Simulation Field -** **07:45 a.m.**

* * *

Light dispersed through the giant caved in hole on top of them, the concrete dusts began to almost cover their bodies completely as they stood upon yet another mountain of debris.

Tarasu Kobayashi looked down on his prey, blood was trickling down his nose. There was an obvious look of annoyance on his face, the apparent scowl on the edge of his lips was completely mirrored from the one and only, Jun Hamada.

Who, by the time Tarasu had only a quarter of his strength left and almost out of most of his salt supply in every part of his body, was now looking like he was finally about to give in to his disease.

The two had not met eye to eye for a while, as Jun had kept his unmasked head down in exhaustion, his body almost close to falling asleep. And he couldn't do anything as Tarasu approached him once more from the other end of the hill of the debris.

With an angered expression, Tarasu reached out to his neck, pulling the hem of his collar roughly.

But just as Tarasu was in the middle of pulling Jun closer to get a good look of his beaten-up face, trying to confirm if the shorter male had indeed had enough, Jun suddenly lifted his head up before swingin another strike with his right hand at Tarasu.

The greasy-haired boy was almost completely taken aback, just like how he didn't expect Jun still had a bit of fight left in him. Tarasu pushed Jun away, dodging his strike in the matter of seconds, and then, with a quick turn of his body, he kicked Jun sideways right under his ribcage.

The shorter boy suddenly sputtered out blood as he flew and bounced off of the rough floor.

"WHAT NOW, BITCH!" Tarasu taunted, opening up his bare arms in greet. "IN THE END YOU'RE STILL GOING TO LOSE!"

But Jun had heard enough of his mocks, and from his pained position, he forcefully pushed himself up once more.

"I… I can still…" He breathed out, spitting out every taste of blood on his mouth, "I'm not done yet!"

"Don't." Tarasu warned him in an irate way. "Don't even think about think."

He was perplexed on how anyone could be relentless, he would've understood his modus operandi if it weren't for the fact that pushing himself to go on for something identical to a suicide mission.

It actually made Tarasu mad.

Jun kicked the ground under him, growling madly as he dashed up towards Tarasu with his arm cocked back. His expression was quite infuriating, knowing that under all that scowl lay someone who had nothing else to fight for.

Tarasu saw through his attack, and then, with his bare, un-cladded hands, he struck a jab at Jun's head just as the attack that was aimed for him missed by an inch.

Jun stumbled back, dumbfounded. Tarasu took the chance to hit two more strikes against his body, before putting down his elbow against his back. Jun fell down to his knees in a horrible groan, no more shockwaves out of the palm of his hands, no more hope.

"You… little… shit!" Tarasu barked as he kicked Jun on his stomach. "What do you hope to gain from this, huh?! Holy shit, I can't believe anyone could annoy me as much as you! How long do you plan to prolong your death, huh?! Every punch you give are nothing but weak-ass hits!"

He looked down at Jun, the boy was catching his breath.

"You're just wasting your breath…" Tarasu sneered, feeling himself getting a bit drowsy. "Stand down, Hamada. Final warning."

But just before he knew it, hundreds of little concrete dusts got in his eyes. Tarasu reeled back with a loud shout, realizing that Jun had just threw grey sand at him.

In an instant, Jun got up and grabbed at Tarasu's leg. As the hunchbacked boy fell backwards with a loud thud, Jun quickly climbed up on top of his chest. He huffed and puffed with all his might, feeling his lungs slowly getting more and more cramped.

"I can still f— _fuh_ —fight…" He clenched his cheeks in, muttering under his breaths.

Every breath out of his nose came out bursting with snot, as his body began to try and cool itself from overheating. But Jun never let his body rest. Never. And as he was close to feeling his heart to suddenly stop at any second, he gave his last ounce of strength to both his arms as he continued to pound Tarasu's face with his balled hands.

"I… can… f-fight…" He mumbled out again, air began to stop being present from his lungs.

His fists went down with a continuous smack, and every pause as he lifted his hands, Tarasu could see the waterfall of tears streaming down his face. Whether it was from fear, pain, or sadness, he did not know.

Nonetheless, he needed to defend himself, and Tarasu began to grow his last ounce of diamonds out of his chest and forehead. Enough to block the rest of the impending attacks.

"I can… I can…"

Every gasp, every hit, it was the last effort Jun had to give. Because he could feel himself slowly fading away.

And just as he was about to land another blow for the umpteenth time, something inside his chest jolted. And that was when Tarasu finally had the chance to hold up his hands before it managed to hit his face again.

The two engaged in a struggle, as Tarasu still had his hands up, looking right at Jun with an uneased expression, and Jun was still trying to give it all, even though he could feel his chest unmoving.

Under him, Tarasu could feel the strength in the boy's arm slowly giving away, but the weight on his stomach was still pining him down.

When he looked up, he didn't expect to see Jun making a handful of emotions with his face alone. His bloodshot eyes, gleaming brown under the sunlight, held an enormous feeling of hopelessness. Tarasu could say nothing, do nothing, he could only stare.

Jun's breath began to turn into chokes, almost as if he was gasping for air. His eyes stopped being filled with anything, it almost resembled a dead person as the boy's head flopped up and down on his neck.

"I… I… I'm sorry… I'm not weak… I'm not… I can s-s-still… Haaah… Haaah…"

Jun's voice could no longer be heard, it was disappearing away inside his throat. Tarasu stared at him from below, the tears of the shorter boy falling onto his bare shoulderblade. Everything seemed to be a mess of emotions.

Until he started to scream…

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" And the whole world came tumbling down as a powerful shockwave began to blow the dusty air around them.

Tarasu could feel his heart stop for less than a second, but much to his dismay, it was not the last quake Jun gave.

Moments after moments, like a very weak heartbeat, shockwaves exploded out of Jun's chest with a **THOOOM!** Shocking anything in a mile radius.

A second passed, and another **THOOOM!** exploded out.

The mall and everything in it shook and tremored fearfully under the mighty Jun Hamada's power. But after this, there was no turning back. Jun had already taken the risk once, what was the harm to end it all?

And after five seconds, everything around them began to break down.

.

Date Takehiro zoomed throughout the perimeter of the artificial city in about 100 miles an hour, speeding like a bullet out of a gun.

There were several buildings on his path, in which he crashed into most of them. But throughout the run, he had ineffectively tried to steer left and right in a rather long turn. To him the world seemed blurry and fast.

And when it was almost three minutes after his run, he could feel himself slowly getting robbed of his energy on the 25th building that he had ran through.

He tried looking back, the wind was still on his hair and the rocket on his shoulder, there was no sign of Kaori Tsukinose anywhere.

He slowed down, almost prominently. His legs shaking and his feet burning as he forced a brake onto the concrete ground. Just as he was then merely several dozen feet away from a concrete wall, he smelled burning and dust under his feet.

Looking back, he saw shoe marks going backwards longer than he had anticipated that burned the concrete from the floor with the sheer force of his braking power.

He tried to take a look around the perimeter, getting himself familiar with his surroundings. He had been right, earlier; this artificial city was just one big pile obstacles put around the area like a city made out of _Lego_.

The area on where he was, looked more like a sight coming from that of a factory landfill, or something similar, due to the fact that there were hundreds upon hundreds of pipes and tubes, along with what seemed like cylindrical feeders and tube containers, followed by dozens upon dozens of little rectangular buildings with triangular roofs.

When he had already realized the mall behind him, just a mere single run away from where he stood, he couldn't believe the sheer sight of it from up close. UA was rich, but he still couldn't bring himself to believe that they were _that_ rich.

And to think that Tarasu and Jun was destroying everything, too…

Nonetheless, he needed to keep himself level-headed with his surroundings. There was no telling when Kaori Tsukinose was going to strike.

He glanced at the giant rocket on his shoulder, surprised that it weighted close to nothing. He felt more weighted by the fact that Suki Takara had left him with a task he didn't even know how to do it.

Moments later, something occured.

 **THOOOM!**

"OH MY—" Before he could finish his sentence, the world under him began to shake, the wind had suddenly went crazy. Was this because he had been standing so close to where Tarasu and Jun had been battling earlier?

The breeze was somewhat only strong enough to blow every edge of his navy-blue hair, but the second he realized that he was losing his footing, the sheer power of Jun's Quirk was no joke. He had witnessed it firsthand, after all. But that was months ago, when they were fighting Mr. Adachi head on.

Then, the second explosion came, and this one was even more powerful than before.

Something about this one felt different, though…

Almost as if it was more dangerous…

That was probably because of the pieces of the mall flying towards him from the sky.

"… Wait…"

And just like that, a seven-foot piece of concrete fell near from where he stood. His heart jolted out of his ribcage, and he began to instinctively dash out of the open field while running away from the many rains of debris that was falling his way.

Every crash let out a loud sickening crack onto the concrete ground, causing massive eruptions of dusts all over the area. Date had not the luxury of closing his nose in his run, he could feel the skin of his face and his eyes getting intruded by the little particles of concrete.

"SHIT!" Date cursed out as he kept an accelerated pace out of the area, avoiding any falling debris. "SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!"

The explosions of shockwaves kept coming with a steady pause, almost like a heartbeat. A really, really, weak heartbeat.

He couldn't focus on anything else, what was on his mind was only the instinct to run. The rocket on his shoulder was quite the poor object, and there was nothing else that can free it from being pulled around wherever he went.

Kaori Tsukinose was finally out of his mind, he sped away out of the perimeter in a single run.

But little did he knew the girl had been following him all the time.

She had eyed him from afar, wasting no time to chase him down by keeping a continuous switch with whatever object she could throw as far as she could. Considering the she had run out of knifes a few minutes ago, she had settled with any rocks or big pebbles enough for her to envision in space.

The second she was almost a few jumps away from her target, a shockwave exploded out of the mall. And the result, dozens upon dozens of giant debris raining down on them.

She stopped, watching the hail of concrete drive away Date from his resting spot, but then she had a looming fear filling her head.

"Jun…"

.

Seiji's head was shaking, ringing, and stinging.

He pulled himself up, uncaring for whatever was going on around him.

The feeling of the rough concrete under the palm of his hands somehow made him realize where he currently was, but the tremor that shook it made him wonder if he was at least laying on a moving piece of rock.

After a bit of a haze, he remembered one simple piece of the puzzle that made him remember of what happened.

" _Shit… my back…"_ He groaned to himself, looking downwards with a bit of tears inside his eyes. _"Yep… shouldn't have dived from the third floor…"_

Even though there was nothing else around him, or so he felt, he knew that something was missing. Something that he had grabbed onto earlier when he had fallen.

He tried to stand, but the spine on his back was refusing to let him up. And then, he ultimately gave in to the cramp, left with no choice but to survey the area around him with a perplexed expression. Now that he thought about it, where did that constant tremor come from?

He heard a soft mumble, a pained cry. He shot his head up and saw Suki Takara laying on her side in front of him.

In a flurry of emotions, he pushed himself forward, crawling with his four limbs. Then, just as he was now close enough to witness her feeble form, he saw something quite horrific.

Blood, blood everywhere. She wasn't breathing. Seiji wasn't even sure if she was even _alive_ anymore. Her body was a mess, he couldn't bare himself to look at the sheer intensity of its damage. But there were certainly parts that weren't to bend the way it was supposed to.

He wanted to puke.

"Oh no…" Seiji breathed out, a weight filled with guilt pulling down his chest. "Oh no, no, no, no!"

He instinctively looked around him, aggressively turning his head left and right, trying to find anyone more qualified to help her. He saw a mound of what seemed like cement, possibly the medium that had caught their fall.

But… why did he survive.

This wasn't fair.

This wasn't what he wanted.

"Noooo… noooo…" He moaned out, looking hopelessly at Suki's limp body. He crouched closer, bowing his head to the ground, he hid his face between his arms, shaking uncontrollably.

This was it, there was no hope for him. He had failed in being a hero. How can he be so stupid? If only there was a way to go back in time… or at least apologize to Suki before she… she…

"Why do you want to be a hero so bad?"

Like thunder, his head shot up in less than a second. The body was gone, there was no more blood, but he saw a figure standing in front of him. He could see medium heeled boots in front of him, but he didn't dare to look at the girl wearing it.

Suki merely gave a sour expression as she stared at Seiji's saddened form beneath her. Her top hat was nowhere to be seen, and her fair skinned face was stained with grey concrete dusts.

There was a hue of purple in her eyes, staring into Seiji's bloodshot ones.

"Suki…" Seiji breathed out, still in a bit of a shock. "W-what the…"

"Why—" Suki repeated, "—do you want to be a hero so bad?"

Silence overwhelmed them, until she continued on. "Don't you think it's sickening, for someone to suck up to anyone? Why would you let yourself be pushed around, being told what to do, by some… creep in a spandex? Why would you go so far just to become someone who you don't even know you'll be? I-I don't understand… I don't understand why you... and Tsukinose… and everyone else… why would you want to be heroes even though you are _villains_ …"

"You," Seiji started after a long pause, "are not the same as them."

He felt like he needed to speak, if it meant stopping the tears that was trickling down from the edge of her eyes.

"You ruined… everything…" Suki responded, biting her bottom lip. "I've tried… all my life, to become someone I am not. And what do I get in turn? Being pushed around by someone whose old man was rich enough to buy her a new suit…"

"That's not true." Seiji told her, still in his pathetic kneeling form. "Kaori understood us more than anyone else…"

"Then why won't you just let me be?!" Suki barked at him. "Do I not deserve some victory?! I've done _everything_ all by myself! But yet I wasn't congratulated by _anyone_! You'll never understand the _pain_ I've been through! You have no rights to tell me what to do! I'm not like your 'hero' friends!"

Seiji's lips trembled in her wake, there was so much he wanted to say. But somehow, he couldn't let his voice out. He merely stared at her from below, with eyes full of hope.

And then suddenly, the ground started to explode. Tremors filled the concrete under their feet, cracking every piece of flooring it could find. Both Suki and Seiji had felt like being put in a washing machine, they quickly began to lose their balance.

Suki tried to stop herself from falling down by spreading her arms, and Seiji had been holding on to the floor from the beginning. The two had a look of fear splattered across their faces.

That wasn't until Seiji managed to hear something from above them.

Around them was a landmass filled with towering metal beams, forming a skeletal figure of an unfinished building. Stacks upon stacks of these metal beams began to shake from the earthquake, and one horizontal beam had broken off from its main post.

Seiji had only a split second of reaction before the beam fell on top of Suki. With fear, and a clear image of a bloodied body of Suki Takara in his mind, he pushed his legs forward.

He caught her waist just in time to bring her down, and he wasted to time to shield her from above.

Suki's eyes were as wide as plates when she saw that, above them, the structure of the unfinished building was falling down on them. And Seiji was between her.

With a loud metallic crash, the beams had all fallen down on top of Seiji. The boy could be seen wincing in pain as he gritted his teeth, trying to drive the pain from supporting all the weight of the metal beams on his back.

Suki was in shock, she couldn't feel the pain that was transferred from Seiji's body. She couldn't feel anything at all, but the feeling of hopelessness.

They couldn't hear anything else but metal hitting upon metal as the beam structures were still falling down on top of each other. Light had mostly been covered up from the number of beams covering them from above.

The girl under him saw blood dripping from the top of his head, seconds after the chaos stopped. Their hearts were hammering under their ribcage in suspense.

Suki had trembled in fear, her lips quivering trying to hold back the scream that was lodged in her throat. She could suddenly feel pain in her back slowly spreading all over her body. She didn't' want imagine the pain Seiji was going through.

The dust around them began to disperse, light had crept into the gaps of the beams and shone Suki's tear-stricken face. She couldn't breathe from the amount of dusts in the air, but she couldn't cough in front of Seiji.

But then, she managed to let out one word from between the fear and pain. "Why...?"

She could hear Seiji breathing steadily, blood from his head had spilled and trickled down his face. Suki stared at his shaking figure trying to push the weight of the beams upwards.

"I… was always the one limping behind…" Seiji said with a raspy voice. "When I… came to UA… I couldn't believe—GAH! — I-I wanted to do… my best… but I seem to always fail at everything I do… Quirk Apprehension Tests… Weekly Exams… I couldn't… follow the rest of the class…"

A moment of silence, everything else was unmoving. There were no more tremors, just the sound of their beating hearts. Then, Suki saw him cracking a smile.

"But even so… Kaori had always… been there to help m-me… Everything I do… was because of her… and Mori, and… Miyu… and Oboro, and Yato… those guys are still supporting me… I didn't want to fall behind… I never wanted to… become the husk… I was before…" His smile fell, then, he looked down at Suki. "B-but… I can never do it alone… the reason I keep fighting is because… I still need my… friends… And we still need you… Suki Takara… I will still… do my best…"

The girl below him could not think straight, she couldn't do so when she was in a mix of a great phantom weight on her back, and a flurry of unknown emotions. Both were equally painful.

But his last words had struck her straight through her frozen heart.

"Let's… become… heroes… together…"

She never would've have asked for someone to say that to her… to make her feel special.

All her life she was just… a plaything…

… being pushed around and… being told what to do…

Until now…

She wanted to mutter out, _"I'm sorry…"_ , but the words just wouldn't come out of her mouth. In her mind, she had a wandering thought invading her capability of thinking straight; she felt like it would be nice to be like this for a while.

And then, from the dead silence of the outside world, a voice broke out.

" **BATTLE TRIAL HAS ENDED…"**

" **VILLAIN TEAM WON…"**

.

From the gaps of the giant concrete debris, came out Date Takehiro, breathing in and out furiously as he tried to catch his breath.

After running for a continuous pace and without rest, it really took the toll on his energy.

He needed to stop doing this.

He looked at the rocket beside him, still untouched.

He looked at the world around him, in chaos and broken apart from the hailstorm of debris. But he couldn't say the same for whatever was left of the artificial city,

He tried to take a rest on a nearby fallen concrete, only for his silent space to be intruded by a sudden booming voice.

" **BATTLE TRIAL HAS ENDED."**

" **VILLAIN TEAM WON."**

.

Kaori Tsukinose bit her bottom lip with all her might, feeling the pain seeping into her brain.

But it didn't matter, what mattered right now was to save Jun Hamada.

In front of her was a limp body of a boy, almost as short as her. He was unmoving and wasn't looking like he was going to wake up anytime soon. The costume on his body was in tatters, and he was covered by thousands of concrete dusts.

Around the two of them was the aftermath of what he had done. Kaori had not seen him pushing himself to his limits, but she damn well knew that that was what he did.

And now, the result, he wasn't giving off any pulse from his chest.

Kaori kept mumbling, in her mind she had only one goal. With both her palms stacked on top of one another, she pushed down Jun's bare chest with all her strength.

One, two, three, four, and all the way to thirty compressions.

She bent down to his face, pinching his nose and putting her mouth against his. She blew in every leftover air she had on her lungs, and she did this twice.

After she pulled away, she gave him another set of thirty compressions.

With how her own heartbeat was beating furiously under her ribcage, deafening her ear with every pulse, she didn't know which of them was the most endangered one.

She wanted to cry from exasperation, but she couldn't, not when she had to concentrate.

On top of the giant pile of what was left of the demolished mall, light shone onto their figure. The girl was breathing nonsensically, her face scrunching up in hopelessness as the boy below her had no shown any sign of living.

"N-no…" She suddenly moaned out. "Nooo…"

All seemed to be in vain, Jun was still unconscious and unbreathing, until she heard someone from beside her.

"Move." Tarasu Kobayashi demanded, holding his broken arm as he walked over towards the two.

Kaori had wondered what the boy could possibly want, but when she saw one of his hand suddenly turning into a giant spike, with the end of it thin enough to be called a needle, she became even more perplexed.

At first, she wanted to interfere when Tarasu sat beside her, looming over the body of Jun Hamada, but she realized that she herself had not a clue on how to save him.

In an instant, Tarasu cocked back his arm and plunged the spike onto the area just under his ribcage. Kaori closed her eyes to avoid herself from seeing the terrifying operation occur before her.

With a clench of his jaw, Tarasu pulled out his spike from Jun's chest. And then, from the puncture wound Tarasu created, a gush of blood exploded out of his chest.

Jun's body jolted awake, but the blood showed no sign of stopping. In Kaori's eyes, everything was red, her mind went blank as her face paled. She just saw something she didn't expect Tarasu would do. However, through the gaps of her fingers after she covered her face in shock, she could see Jun's body gasping for breath.

After a few seconds later, Jun's body stopped convulsing, only for his body to start trembling. Kaori could not believe his eyes when she saw his chest rising and falling.

He was breathing.

"He's a tough one," Tarasu commented with a stern expression, he then turned to Kaori. "Keep an eye on this idiot from now on."

"Kobayashi," Kaori started, not knowing of what to say. Her attention was still stuck onto Jun's bleeding wound. "Thank you."

"Huh?!" Tarasu barked out, a disgusted look splattered on his face. "For what?! I didn't do anything!"

Kaori could only create a blank expression on top of her rather perplexed emotion, she couldn't say anything else. Her hand fell upon Jun Hamada's, the look on his face as he was still drifting away, unconscious.

" _Cold…"_ Kaori thought as she stroked the palm of his hand.

Perhaps… her effort was not enough.

She had promised Seiji that she will make Jun speak to him. Truth be told she had thought of it as a place not for her to meddle in. But when she looked at Jun and what he could do, she realized that perhaps making him closer to the class was the top priority.

Her future had depended on it, after all. And she remembered how Jun Hamada had tried to close the curtains on it.

She couldn't let it happen again.

For Jun and herself.

If what Seiji said was right, then she shouldn't give up just yet.

She was yet to survive the first semester. She knows she needed to survive the second one together with Jun.

Her musings were stopped when a booming voice intruded her ear.

" **BATTLE TRIAL HAS ENDED."  
**

" **VILLAIN TEAM WON."**

She exchanged glances with Tarasu Kobayashi. The two sat there on top of the giant mountain of debris, surrounded by the rest of the untouched artificial city.

The sun blared above them, shining down upon whatever was left of the giant mall. The wind brought back a breeze, the chill of the summer marked the start of their _real_ test to become heroes.

* * *

 **Battle Simulation Field -** **08:00 a.m.**

* * *

 **.**

 **Bicc chapter today...**

 **yeee...**

 **Alright, now, sorry for the late update. There's been a bit of a problem regarding this chapter. However, I thankfully managed to finish it just in time before two months have passed (which... isn't really something to celebrate about).**

 **I actually haven't made Jun's illness a thing in the original story. GiintokiSakata even mentioned how he was too OP. At first the only drawback I added to him was just "His Quirk hurts himself", but I felt like something was missing. So, after a trip to a medical school in the city, I came across something that would be PERFECT for Jun (not saying that illnesses are good and people should have them) and decided to add it in the story.**

 **And, as for the rest of the characters, I'm sorry if I had represented them differently from what you've originally wrote.**

 **Oh yeah, and a bicc bicc thanks for GiintokiSakata for helping me with this one. I owe you one, mate!**

 **.**

 **Ahem...**

 **Now that that's out of the way...**

 **There's a surprise for y'all in my DA account.**

 **Take your time to check it out. You can give some feedback if you'd like.**

 **.**

 **Alright, that's all from me, today!**

 **See you next chapter!**

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

 **Jun had done it. He didn't believe he would've find himself unable to use his powers anymore... or else he would face his own consequences...**

 **Was Seiji's words enough to make Suki change her way of thinking? Will she be finally able to rely on others now?**

 **Kaori had realized the importance of having Jun on the class, and can she convince him to stay with the help of Tarasu?**

 **FIGHT! Mori, Miyu, and Kudou against Yato, Oboro, and Mika! LOOK FORWARD TO IT!**

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

 **R &R**


	12. The Aftermath and the New Beginning

**? - ?:? p.m.**

* * *

The last thing Jun Hamada remembered was blacking out, crying. Everything around him was fading away fast, voices became distorted as his ears made a loud pop, and his chest seemed to have been compressed into one in a millionth of its original form.

He couldn't bother waking up, he had felt like he had lost all of his will to fight.

Even the one he used to push himself through his oncoming death.

" _Ah, how long had I been fighting?"_ Jun thought to himself as he drifted in the cramped darkness, feeling nothing and being nothing. _"Why was I even born…? All I did was fight… fight… fight… and for what? To just die in the end? I don't want to do this anymore…"_

More depressing thoughts began to build up inside his head, and while he couldn't feel the exact location his chest was, he began to feel a weight dragging down his heart.

Was this the feeling of defeat? To give in to your sickness and accepting death?

Pitiful.

In a world of heroes, why wasn't he one of the people they try to save?

" _Adachi…"_

No. He was different.

He left him all alone, forced to endure all of his pain with nobody by his side. There was no reason Jun should feel sympathy for him in the least.

" _You know what they say…"_ A voice in his head spoke, _"even nutcrackers are tired of cracking nuts…"_

No. That's not true. That was not Jun's fault. Adachi was just too fickle to turn down a promotion.

" _Are you sure, though?"_ The voice cooed. _"You know that that's not what made him left. You did."_

That's wrong! Jun did nothing wrong! He waited for Adachi to come back for months—

" _He has grown tired of you."_ The voice cackled. _"He only came back because Jun got his weak ass dying, begging for him to come back. But surprise-surprise! That was not the first time Jun almost died!"_

Jun said nothing in return.

" _And look what happened back now! Dead. With nobody by your side. Pathetic. Saying himself to be the strongest amongst others. Where's the pride, then, Champ? Where's your friends? Where's Adachi? Not even in death would they wish you safe travels._

 _You are nothing now. You are just a soul in limbo, on your way to hell. Why? Because you're just going to be someone useless in heaven. Adachi had grown tired of you. The class had grown tired of you. Why would you have ANY chance in redeeming yourself in front of God?_

 _Just face it! You were worth of nothing. You're less than nothing now. It's best for you to disappear forever. Nobody would miss you. Reincarnation wouldn't change you. You're just going to be the same, weak-old Jun Hamada."_

They were right. Jun was a nobody. Not even in life anyone had left behind to be with him.

No one to hold his hand. No one to tuck him goodnight. Jun was just the hermit amongst the class of would-be heroes. He had always thought that Seiji Orimura was the _worst_ candidate anyone could chose to be a hero, but he realized the odds had been against him all along.

Look at where it got him.

Dead.

Yeah. Jun was right before. There was no point in hoping anymore. He would just wait for his turn in hell.

Slowly, he tried closing his eyes in the darkness filled with nothing but tight space. The world inside his mind turned foggy, he couldn't reminisce on any happy memories. Probably because he had none.

That was, yet again, his fault.

If only he was _stronger_ …

The sea of pitch black merely closed in on his body as he continued to think of depressing thoughts. Self-blame only made it worse by constantly straining his heart with mental pain.

But what reason was there for him to hope for a better life?

Ah… he remembered talking to Adachi that one time. He remembered saying that he wanted to be someone stronger than both the heroes and villains.

He remembered Adachi giving a soft smile and a laugh. That was where it started; his laugh. Jun wanted to choke Adachi the second he laughs in front of him ever again. That laugh had been the only thing leading him on, making him believe in his stupid little fantasies.

He remembered the painkillers he refused to take. Weeks after his Quirk started to turn for the bad. He remembered literally straining his heart by creating an inner tremor, making him vomit blood out of his nose and mouth.

He remembered, that despite all that pain, he still believed that Adachi had hoped for him to become a hero.

" _Why…"_ Jun question inside his head, _"Why did you lead me on like that?"_

Out of pity? Maybe. Or maybe he was mocking him all along, knowing that this short little boy could never become a hero in the future. As if he had a future in the first place…

" _Death is so calm…"_ Jun thought to himself.

He drifted away, his heart numbing in the process.

Darkness enveloped his thoughts.

He couldn't do anything at this point. Not that he wanted to.

But then, suddenly, he remembered something from what felt like an eternity ago. He couldn't remember for sure what she said. Was it something about not finding the help he had been looking for? Was it something about her telling him how much of a hypocrite he was?

Why did she sounded so concerned back then? Why were there tears in her screams?

Why… did she looked so scared when he screamed back at her? Did his words had really hurt?

Why did she care? Why would anyone care so much about him dying?

And when he was close to asking out all of his unanswered questions, a lone, dying thought crossed his mind.

" _Tsukinose…"_

He then disappeared.

.

"…"

Light crept into the school infirmary from the midday's sun.

"…"

Nobody was there to make a ruckus; absolute silence had overwhelmed the room.

"Ah…"

The voice of a young boy exasperatingly trying to breathe out excess air suddenly filled the room.

"Huh…?"

With a light creak on his hospital bed as he began to toss and turn in his sleep, the boy's eyes slowly fluttered open.

The scene of the roof of the infirmary had entered his mind, making him slowly realize where his resting position was being held. He could also feel a newer set of clothes on his person, something similar to a fabric soft yet thick enough on his skin.

There was this awful feeling of pain all over his body, but he had quite the revelation presented onto him.

Jun Hamada had unintentionally find himself alive again.

But he was not fully well, that one he knew for certain. He could still feel the muscles in his hands, arms, and legs shaking. Almost as if his Quirk was still taking effect.

He could also feel his heartbeat on a very slow pace, his breathing seemed hastened, was this how it felt to almost die?

There was a slight feeling of relief and slight guilt of returning back. He couldn't have thought that he would've been freed from the darkness that was swallowing him to hell. He could still feel the voice in his head laughing at him, as if pulling him back up to the surface just to see him fall again.

Why… Why did he come back?

He tried looking around for answers, perhaps this was still in his head and he wasn't actually back in the world of the living. But he was then met with eyes of silver, staring back at him in surprise.

Jet black hair tied on the middle end, placed on top of her right shoulder. Her bangs split in the middle, but her hair was in a mess, almost as if she had been sweating and forgot to cover it up. But the sun still had somehow managed to show the audacity of her fair skin, even if it did have a couple of scratches.

"Hi." Kaori Tsukinose spoke with a soft tone. She had changed her hero costume to the standard U.A. school uniform.

Jun couldn't believe it. She was actually here. Not that he wouldn't expect it, he just didn't know _why_. Something felt wrong, and Jun was sure of it.

"Why… are you here…" Jun managed to breathe out, still feeling the weight in his lungs.

It took him a lot of effort to speak, and Kaori noticed him struggling. "You shouldn't speak for a while… I think… umm… the space in your chest is filled with too much pressure."

She looked concerned, just like back then when they had argued over something Jun had forgot. But Jun still had no clue why she was making such an expression.

When he saw her standing up, her hands hovering above his chest, he realized something.

This girl was absolutely insane.

"I… wanted to apologize for earlier…" Kaori said after a moment of silence. "I shouldn't have… left you all alone in there. I should've helped. Because of me… this happened to you."

Jun was wide eyed, taken aback by her words. He stayed silent, unable to express whatever confusion he had in his mind.

She sat back down towards the seat beside his hospital bed, the curtains behind her moved slightly from the air conditioner's wind. She seemed to be shuffling in her seat, almost as if it was uncomfortable enough to be in a room with Jun Hamada.

"When we were in the training grounds back then, I should've known about how… determined you'd be…" She continued, hanging her head while looking at her twiddling thumbs. "That was foolish of me to think that you had been holding us down, I should've been there to help you with whatever you're going through. I realize that now. I know what I should've done. I was the first to notice, after all…"

"You… have _no idea_ what I'm going through…" Jun mumbled out with a slight click of his tongue. The bitter feeling in his mouth had returned.

"But I do…" Kaori rebuked, looking at him with eyes of certainty. "I've been noticing how you've been grabbing at the hem of your collar every time you try to use your Quirk, I've been noticing how you've been in silently holding down your anger just so you wouldn't hurt yourself, and I feel kind of responsible for not saying anything."

She began to chuckle dryly.

"I know I'm… the last person you want to hear this from, but I promised Seiji that I'll get you back on the class. I should've told you like I should've told him, he _is_ the class rep, after all. He had been shouldering all of us from the start, you know." She said with a hint of pink in her cheeks, the way she smiled when she talked about Seiji made everything about her feelings clear.

Jun, on the other hand, wanted to puke in disgust. The way she spoke about Seiji Orimura in such a way had his stomach churn.

"Ghh…" He grumbled out as he began to tussle on his bedsheet. "Orimura this… Orimura that… How annoying!"

Kaori seemed to have been taken aback by his words, and before she could rebuke anything else Jun had to say, the bedridden boy in front of her made a look full of irritation and hate.

"You're… talking about him… like he's some kind of a _hero_!" Jun breathed out, painfully forcing himself to speak. "What kind of guy does he had to be to get you… a _Tsukinose_ … to glorify him?!"

Kaori had her mouth agape, until her expression turned sour. "It is _because_ I am a Tsukinose that I think he's such a good person, but I don't _glorify_ him. He's willing to help anyone, even _me_ , a Tsukinose, just like you said."

"Really?" Jun scoffed sarcastically. "Then pray tell, _Princess_ , why are you so keen to become the being that guy expects you to, huh? How low can you sink to even want to fit to someone's expectations?"

With a scowl, Kaori returned his venom, "He's not perfect, he's not stronger, but he's not _you_ either!"

Two words: awkward; silence.

"So that's it huh?" Jun managed to let out a smile onto his face, his face darkened as he began to mutter. "I lost to Seiji fucking Orimura?"

How stupid he must look to her, he couldn't begin to imagine how he had looked to Adachi. The voice in his head was right, he was better off disappearing without a trace. A pitiable being such as himself didn't deserve to be alive.

Kaori found it hard to search for the words that she wanted to say. "You didn't lose anything, Jun. I—we—still want to help you…"

"No." Jun snapped, suddenly forcing his weak, shaky arms to push himself up from his lying position. "No. I get it. Leave, now."

Kaori winced at the sight of him biting his lips in pure agony, trying to force his almost weak arms in a state that he himself couldn't manage. "Jun! Jun, stop! Please, you're not strong enough to—"

"NOT STRONG ENOUGH?!" Jun suddenly barked at her, unable to control his anger anymore. His single visible eye shot a look of a demon itself. "GET OUT! GO! FUCKING LEAVE!"

Kaori had unknowingly stood up, out of obligation and out of desperation. She stared at him and didn't knew what to do. Slowly shuffling towards the exit.

"I CAN'T STAND YOU TALKING ABOUT SEIJI FUCKING ORIMURA ALL THE TIME!" He shouted at her, not caring if he was about to burst his lungs out. "EVERY TIME, IT'S ALWAYS ' _GOOD_ ORIMURA' AND ' _NICE_ ORIMURA'! YOU THINK I GIVE A SHIT?! YOU THINK I CARE IF HE WAS A HERO?!"

Kaori backed away, unable to do anything to stop the mess that she had intended to avoid. She was close towards the door now, but she was unable to leave, not when her eyes were still affixed onto Jun's weak form.

"GO! GET OUT! I DON'T NEED YOUR HELP! I DON'T _WANT_ YOUR HELP!"

His voice was still ringing inside her head even when she had hastily closed the door behind her. Kaori couldn't believe herself when she had decided to chickened out on him, even when she had promised Seiji.

Standing in the hallway, she looked to her right. In between the high tensioned silence, Seiji Orimura had been listening outside the infirmary from the beginning. He wore the same uniform Kaori was, draped nicely over his figure.

The two teenagers merely exchanged exasperated glances, hopelessly still trying to do the undoable.

Behind Seiji was another shorter individual, and much older than the two in front of them. It was none other than the Pro Nurse, Recovery Girl.

The elderly woman merely stared at the two woebegone teenagers with sadness etched on her wrinkles.

Kaori averted her gaze back to the doorknob in front of her, grinning like an idiot. "Ah… Sorry… I think I only made it worse…"

"It's alright, Kaori." Seiji assured her, managing to let out a smile from his frowned expression. "We can still try later!"

"Sonny…" Recovery Girl tried to impose, "I think it's best if you two leave for a while, I'll be enough to take care of Young Hamada."

"Ma'am, I… I don't wish to be imprudent…" Kaori told her, "but I don't think it's… safe for you to come in…"

"Nonsense!" Recovery Girl spouted, tapping her cane on the floor harshly. "I am no psychiatrist, but I am a doctor. A student's health _must_ come first. Besides, I fixed this lad up cleanly, didn't I?"

She tapped Seiji's right thigh with her cane several times, making him wince in pain from the still healing wound that he gave to himself earlier. Kaori could undoubtedly feel the pain up her own leg, but she had the slight suspicion that Recovery Girl meant to do it.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I have someone to tend to." Recovery Girl told them. "You lads go to Adachi and tell him everyone's okay. Please refrain from putting any more harm in your bodies. I have enough on my hands with All Might's little fan, you two better stay away from those kinds of behaviors."

"Y-yes, ma'am. Thank you." Seiji said to her awkwardly, bowing down in the process.

The two teenagers in the hallway had left the area with the both of them walking side by side. The heels of their shoes tapping the floor in a slow, rhythmic beat.

None of them knew that, moments after Kaori had left Jun alone in the infirmary, the shorter boy had been crying his eyes out in disappointment, hopelessness, and anger. Recovery Girl was only there to tend to his wounds, but what was left there to tend when Jun had seemingly managed to break everything vital?

Not long after silence had taken over the hallway in front of the infirmary, a female figure could be seen leaning by a wall with her hand supporting her body.

Suki Takara stared at the reminiscences of Kaori and Seiji, looming darkly over the dim lit hallway.

In her eyes are uncertain emotions, following the tracks of the two teenagers from before.

She still had one thing she needed to do.

* * *

 **Battle Simulation Field -** **09:15 a.m.**

* * *

"Wolfy-Three… Come in, Wolfy-Three… Over!" The voice in Mori Kururugi's ear buzzed.

With a grumble, she answered the call. "Please stop calling me Wolfy-Three, for god's sake!"

The giggle that buzzed electronically in her tufty ear made her shiver, mostly because she had already known how very sensitive her canine ears were supposed to be. With a wince, she forcibly took it off.

With a sigh, she looked at the voice transmitter device in her hand with irritation, before averting her gaze to her companion.

"Take it easy on him," Miyu Yakushi told her with a slight bend on her hips, "we don't know what kinda stuff he's dealing with."

"Yeah, but he's making it _so_ hard to like him!" Mori moaned in complain.

The two of them stood together on the ground floor of what seemed to be a five-story building. With areas as wide as this one, complete with two sets of escalators and unused waiting lounges in the far side of the lobby, you'd be sure that you had find yourself inside a mall in a post-apocalyptic setting, and _not_ in an artificial city owned by a renowned school of heroes.

The dust crept into their noses, the cement-like smell oozed from the cracked concrete walls of the lobby. The both of them stood in front of the two giant escalators leading to the second floor, the floor planning around them sure did a good job.

The two of them had decided to leave the third member of their party guard the key to their success all alone in the top of the building, just like how he had insisted it. They were currently playing villains, guarding the rocket from the goody-two-shoe heroes. And Kudou couldn't show an even more joyful expression.

For a boy claimed to be having a mental disorder, he sure had a lot of enthusiasm.

Or… was Mori missing the point, here?

"Damn," Miyu suddenly spoke out, "so dusty… No wonder Jun had breathing problems…"

The skeleton girl stood at the same level as her canine counterpart, just a mere centimeter away. With her pale, snowy white skin basking under the midday sun, covered with only a handful of costume, she swayed her hips left and right and she began looking around the room for any signs of their intruder.

Unlike Mori's costume who, while given the enhancement to be more limber than anyone else in the class, looked like something that was rather more fitting to be put in the tight suit category with only a little bit of her skin showing, Miyu's costume had only consisted of one black strapless bra, a pair of baggy black pants and white shoes, followed by the bright color of crimson that draped down towards her feet in the form of a cloak.

Mori had unknowingly stared at Miyu's hourglass figure as the skeleton girl passed her by, feeling her cheeks slowly burning up and flushing down as she had remembered the activity they were supposed to partake in.

She pulled the hem of her pearl white and lavender striped scarf, feeling the heat slowly get to her.

She was then reminded of their previous conversation. "Yeah, I guess so…"

Miyu had unexpectedly noticed the dejection in her tone. "What's wrong?"

"N-nothing," Mori quickly assured her, "I just feel a little tired, that's all!"

"You? Tired?" Miyu scoffed. "Now that's new. Come on, tell me what's wrong."

"It's really not that big of a deal, you know?" Mori awkwardly told her, inching away from the other girl. "I mean… we should focus more on the fight ahead rather, just like the heroes from earlier…"

"Comparing yourself to others, huh? Sooooo unlike you!"

"Well, excuse you!" Mori blurted as she turned aghast. "I'm not 'comparing' myself to others! I just think that we should try and… learn from the three of them!"

Miyu crossed her arms and made a light click with her tongue. "And why should we do that?"

"Urgh… This is so unfair…" Mori grumbled as she began stomping away.

"What is?"

Mori stopped to pout moments before Miyu had asked her. "Sure, I mean, I _do_ want to be like them. They seem like they got it all figured out?"

"Don't we too?" Miyu said, shrugging her shoulders. "I mean, Satou had _basically_ told us his plan to win…"

"It's not like that!" Mori snapped.

"What is it like, then?" Miyu asked her again, a hint of exasperation in her tone.

She waved her palm accordingly, and irate expression on her face. "I don't… feel like we are going to get anywhere if we only come up with a straightaway plan. Our opponents are a robot, a smoker, and a fucking chemical hazard."

Silence seemed to have overwhelmed the two of them, the awkwardness was unbearable.

"I mean, no offense, but," Mori then points to the imaginary transmitter in her ear, "should we really trust Satou with this sort of stuff?"

Miyu stared at her from the distance, unable to open her lipless mouth. Mori then heard her sigh, "Mori that is not the point of the Battle Trial at all…"

Mori's shoulders fell, she shuffled on where she stood.

"Don't you remember what All Might said about the _last one_?" MIyu said as she approached the wolf girl. "It's not about winning. Hell, it's not even about who got the most punches. Look, girl, whether we win or not is up to fate. What matters is how we work together to win. If what Kudou said is right, then it's up to us to try and work together with it. And hey, it's only a simulation."

Mori stared at the palm of her, slowly turning it into curled up fist.

With a quick gulp of air, she slowly started to regain her composure. Now that she thought about it, she needed to remind herself of her own true goal in becoming a hero. Miyu was right, she couldn't just rush into battle and try to save the day by herself. That was Jun Hamada's mistake.

It all went back to her and how she needed to establish a working team with everyone else. That's right, the only way for her to become a hero is to _act like one_.

"Then let's do this." She said with a determined look, staring into Miyu's pearly eyes.

The skin on the edge of Miyu's lipless mouth wrinkled, indicating that she was somewhat smirking. "Let's go give these guys hell."

And not even five seconds later, a mysterious explosion suddenly went out with a deafening **BOOM!**

The two girls instinctively cowered down, fearing that the roof above them will begin crumbling down. Resulting in them getting buried in piles and piles of debris.

They suddenly realized something; the explosion had occurred from somewhere above them. The tremor that they felt had only been brief and wasn't destructive enough to match with Jun Hamada's power.

However, they immediately knew that something was horribly wrong.

Miyu stood up, immediately rushing for the escalators leading towards the second floor, her finger touching the inside of her ear canal. "Satou! What the hell happened?!"

Static, until a dry chuckle broke through. "Hehe… Uhhh… A bit of a setback, sorry… _**PSHOOO!**_ –WOWZA!"

Miyu's face paled, she looked back at Mori and began exchanging glances. They then realized that the hero team had already gotten past them.

"Mika?" Mori asked.

"Mika." Miyu confirmed.

In an instant, the both of them rushed to get to the top of the building.

* * *

 **H.R.I. Dorms - 09:30 p.m.**

* * *

In the darkness of the H.R.I. dorm building, someone was busily trying to check the pain that had been irritatingly stinging at his flesh.

With a quick harrumph, Tarasu opened his mouth, forcibly trying to force his jaw open. In the dim lit bathroom, just outside of his own dorm, he stared at his own bruised reflection. He couldn't believe how much hit he had taken in the span of an hour.

Honestly, he didn't expected Jun to have gave him this much of a scar. He remembered getting his own jaw dislocated just with one punch. Fortunately for him, his bones heal faster than the rest due to the fact that its composition was made entirely of growable diamonds. Unfortunately, though, the cracked bones on his lower jaw had somewhat made its way between his flesh.

Unlike his bones, his flesh did not have the same luxury of self-healing. The stinging pain and the lump that he can feel from an object lodged inside somewhere where it should not be made him rethink his decisions of trying to suppress Jun Hamada by himself.

With a wincing groan, he pushed the lump on the back of his cheek onto the insides of his mouth. He could feel the self-made wound on the inside of his mouth still bleeding, cutting through between the flesh of his mouth.

And then, with a light plop, something small fell down onto the sink below.

A little piece of diamond bounced around on the marble sink, before it stopped completely on a small puddle of tap water. Blood seemed to have hugged its shape, contaminating the sink around it.

Tarasu stared hopelessly at the bloody diamond in front of him, before the little mineral shriveled and turned to salt.

Bare-chested and bruised, he looked at his own reflection again. Opening his mouth, he saw the little bloody, hasty wound on the back of his mouth, the place where that diamond had resided within his cheek.

"Goddamn…" He cursed to himself as he spat the leftover metallic blood in his mouth.

Unknown to him, someone had caught him performing an operation by himself.

"You should've gone to Recovery Girl." Said the raven-haired girl that stood in the darkness of the hallway, watching him in the bathroom with nothing but his uniform pants.

Tarasu glanced sideways towards the outside of the bathroom. He saw Kaori Tsukinose shuffling on her feet uncomfortably.

"What are you doing here?" He asked her nonchalantly, grabbing a pinch of cotton before lodging it inside his mouth. Stopping the blood from his wound to bleed out any more.

Kaori seemed speechless by his state, she merely made a furrowing expression with her eyebrows. "I'm serious… you should really go see her when your body's looking like that."

Tarasu knew that she was talking about all the bruise he had on his body, but he didn't expect anyone like her to care so much about a few bruises here and there. Perhaps it had something to do with Jun Hamada, the one who had caused all of his wounds.

"I prefer fixing my own body than having anyone else to do it." Tarasu told her, his cheeks hardening in response to the stinging sensation inside his mouth. "And besides, Recovery Girl can only heal wounds, not take out stray bone shards in your flesh."

Kaori seemed to be wincing at the thought. "Did you try to take it out yourself? Don't you have to open up a wound first? I thought your diamonds just dissolve at your command."

"Oh, I did. And yes, I also did that. And no, not this one." Tarasu explained as he began turning up the tap water to clean out the blood on his fingers. "Imagine it like an extendable limb, my diamonds are, if not broken off, a part of my own body. Only when it's not connected to me when it starts to dissolve."

He then proceeded to point at the side of his cheek, showing the place his bone shard had strayed off from his skeleton.

"Your buddy Hamada had made my jaw crack, and, as my bones fix up easily, my flesh doesn't. If not taken out soon, it will dissolve while still lodged in my cheek. And it usually doesn't go well for anyone to have salt running around their system. I had to get it out before it does that."

"But that doesn't excuse your disregarding attitude." Kaori harrumphed, making a hand-on-hip gesture with a stern attitude. "You should really check up on a professional."

Tarasu scoffed, chuckling at the back of his throat. "Uh-huh. And what does that make you? You haven't answered my question."

Kaori unknowingly sighed, she scratched the back of her neck in a troubled state. "Look, there's something I want to ask of you…"

The boy in greasy hair cocked his eyebrow, giving her a second to gather her words.

"We both know we can't do anything to save the H.R.I. Program once it seizes its experiments. And we both know that we want nothing else than to graduate as heroes." Kaori said, closing her eyes. "So… in order to get everything back on track… I'm going to need your help on convincing Jun to stay."

Her request came as a bit of a shock to Tarasu, but he couldn't lie and say that he didn't expected her to give two shits more about the Tremor-Boy than the others.

Then again, he guessed that it came from that Orimura kid. He had noticed how the boy managed to puppet the class in a few months. Again, he honestly believed that Kaori Tsukinose could live her life doing her own thing without caring about anyone. Her family certainly did.

"And why should I do that?" Tarasu said with a bit of a jeer. "The kid's not cut out for hero work? Well that's his problem."

"But we need to change him." Kaori pleaded. "You've worked for my family, so you know how much I needed this!"

"Then that's your problem!" Tarasu pressed on. "I'm not planning to become a hero, mind you. If this program is my last choice to reform, then imma do it in a heartbeat. Anything that benefits me is what _I_ need."

Kaori hung her head, her eye squinted at the floor before she looked up once more. "This program doesn't work all by yourself, I thought you knew that."

Tarasu went silent. "I know that some people aren't willing to hop on the train, but what can I do, _Princess_? Takara's a manipulative bitch, and Jun's a delusional suicidal bastard. Honestly, I always thought that this program was always going to be a failure, but did you know why I fought alongside a Tsukinose back there in our first day? It's because, just like you, Adachi had gotten to my head."

He wasn't lying, he actually felt like joining this program was the better opportunity for him and his future. He always thought of himself as a bitter realist kind of person, which was why he took Adachi's words as a form of negotiation, making him believe that he would have a stable in the future.

"But why do you stay, then?" Kaori asked him again. "If it weren't for the rush of battle, and not for the money promised to you in the future, why _did_ you stay?"

Tarasu froze, he couldn't answer her.

But he should probably note to himself that, despite all of Adachi's convincing, it wasn't what made him come to the gathering of the invitees in the first place. He was actually curious, feeling slightly in awe when he realized that the prestigious school of U.A. was accepting the scums of society.

At first glance, perhaps it would've made anyone thought that such program wouldn't work. But it actually amused him that such organization agreed to test it.

Sure, it _was_ an experiment, but it was an experiment that he'd like to see succeeding beyond his expectations.

Perhaps, what made him stay was the passion everyone else had as they tried learning to be a hero. He dully noted that Adachi had successfully wooed the daughter of a Tsukinose, and a bad blood of the notably dangerous Tachibana Clan, to join the program. And then, trying to convince Tarasu, talking about helping her try and amend the class together.

"I couldn't say the same about Suki Takara," Kaori continued, "but I feel like you can teach Jun to be as opportunistic as you. I know how it irritates you to see such stumbling-block bring us down, which is why I know you can convince him better than anyone else to believe in his own power."

A second passed. Two seconds. Then, Tarasu started to yawn.

"Good grief!" He moaned out in exhaustion, his face scrunching up in annoyance. "You really cherry-picked your words well, Tsukinose. What, did something good happen?"

Kaori's face beamed, a small smile escaped her lips. "I'm glad we both share the same beliefs, Tarasu."

"It's Kobayashi-san to you, Tsukinose." Tarasu harrumphed as he proceeded to walk away from her towards the other end of the dark dormitory hallway. "Talk to me again when Hamada's calm enough to not blow the building out of the mainland."

Kaori merely gave him a confused look. "Then shouldn't I be called Tsukinose-dono?"

"Fuck off."

* * *

 **Battle Simulation Field -** **09:45 a.m.**

* * *

Mori leaped from level to level with her nimble legs, the wolf girl was close to finding the source of the scent that she had picked up earlier.

Her nose perked up in the air as she crouched by the edge of the walkway from one side of the second floor to the floor, the girl then realized that they were merely one floor away from the individual scent that gave off the trace of his or her smell in the air.

Mori's ears pointed upwards, suddenly hearing a distant noise from the other walkway just a level above her. Below her was the ground floor all over again. She looked around, trying to find anything to jump on.

From behind her, something had suddenly rushed past her.

Before she knew it, a bridge made out of hundreds of pale spikes and tubes of numerous shapes and sizes reached from her walkway to the other one above them. The bridge made a light cracking sound, almost like ice breaking in room temperature, but she realized that the spikes that shaped the grotesque from of the bridge was not ice, rather, they were bones.

Mori looked back behind her, glancing at the only girl who could form bridges made out of bones in just a wave of a hand.

Miyu Yakushi leaped off from the edge of the walkway, her feet gingerly landing onto her bone-bridge, lightly cracking a few molded ribcages in the process. She sped off upwards onto the second walkway, with the help of the bridge connecting her flight.

Mori wasted no time to follow her as she chased the other girl on all fours, going up the same bridge as her.

"Yo, that was amazing, what you can do with your Quirk!" Mori praised, the both of them going into a dim lit hallway.

Miyu took a while to respond to her. "It's nothing. It isn't a flashy Quirk like Kobayashi's or Takara's."

"But where did you learn how to make a bridge?!" Mori asked in awe. "Not a lot of people can do that, you know!"

"… Whatever, just focus on the scent!" Miyu unknowingly spouted out, a crimson blush formed on her pale cheek. If she had lips, then she would curl it up to the point where a smile meets a scowl.

Mori pursed her own mouth shut, she continued to sniff out the dusty air for any traces of the opponents smell left in the air.

The two of them went past a corner, finding themselves in a larger room filled with nothing but pillars, similar to the insides of the giant mall Jun and Tarasu had battled on. However, they noticed that the room only went on for quite a while until they saw a pair of concrete stairs on the end of the room.

Mori looked around, trying to follow the odd scent and perhaps catch a glimpse of whatever was oozing of it. Miyu then formed a rather grotesque looking scythe from the palm of her hand, the blade gleamed palely on the dim lights.

The wolf girl's ear perked up, suddenly catching a lone sound from somewhere around them. As Miyu was taking the first step forward, she was stopped when Mori suddenly stretched out her hand.

Her canine ears were no doubt a hundred times more sensitive than a human's, and she had a bad feeling about her surroundings.

"What's wrong?" Miyu asked her, her skeletal scythe tapping the floor as she put it down.

Mori merely scrunched her face up, trying to concentrate on the sound that she had picked up. She couldn't put it into words, but she felt like she had a familiarity with such sounds.

And only when that particular sound slowly turned louder, she had a slight grasp on it.

"… Water?" She muttered under her breath.

Miyu couldn't quite hear what Mori had said, but then she had subconsciously picked up a sound from above them. And she was pretty sure that Mori had just said something about 'water'.

A few seconds later, the splashing of water was all over them, echoing off of the walls. But then they realized that the sound splashing and running water had come from up the stairs at the end of the room. The two of them turned aghast.

Just a second later, silver liquid came splashing down the concrete stairs. The smell of metal was entering their noses. With a sudden deathly thought, they realized that they were going to drown in chemical hazards.

The silver mercury ran down the stairs like a flood, splashing its poisonous chemistry on the pillars and floors around it. It rushed at them quicker than they anticipated, and they had no time to react.

Like a tsunami, the mercury flood engulfed them and everything around it in silver, leaving nothing in the room untouched.

Moments passed and the flood had dissipated, leaving only traces of silver on the ground waiting to vaporize, wet footsteps filled the room as someone came down the lone stairs from the floor above.

Yato Shimura glanced at the wet floor around him, hoping that he hadn't accidentally poisoned his classmates.

The boy, dressed in a costume designed to circulate his mercury, had look quite shocked when he laid his gaze on the sight in front of him.

He slowly reached up towards his ear, "Mika, I found them."

An electronic buzz returned. "Splendid, Yato Shimura. Would you kindly keep the opponents out of their ally's reach?"

"Got it. I'll be done in two puffs of a Kirikagure's fart." Yato responded snarkily.

"I heard that, you asshole!" Oboro's voice barked in his ear.

"Hate you, too. Bye."

He then intentionally turned off his receiver, knowing that electronic devices such as earpieces could suddenly go short circuit when exposed to his electro-conducting liquid.

He averted his gaze to the sight in front of him; a grotesque dome made out of pale white bones had grown in the middle of the room. With a crackle and snap, the layers of bones that shaped the dome began to disperse, almost as if they were opening up a window.

Several seconds later, the dome had shrunk back into what seemed to be the blade of a rather large scythe. From where Yato stood, he could see that two people had survived not being washed away by his mercury flood, protected by the skeletal dome.

He locked eyes with Miyu Yakushi, whose sharp gaze penetrated his concentration from her kneeling position. Mori Kururugi was also there, undoubtfully in perfect health.

Yato closed his eyes, the palm of his hands began to open up. From the puddles that spread around the room, mercury began building up under his feet. And then, with a quick movement of his fingers, droplets of liquid began to hover in midair, slowly forming into silvery spikes.

"These won't kill you, their chemical compositions are reassured to not harm your body," He told his opponents, his mercury spikes aiming at their bodies, "But try not to move too much, I'm only aiming for your feet."

Miyu stood up, with a quick twirl, her scythe elongated incredibly, looking more and more menacing by the second.

"Go ahead, make my day, Silverfish." She growled, challenging him.

.

Bluish light emitting from the darkness of the dust filled room, the sizzling sound of concrete burning could be heard in the background.

Everywhere was just a mess of steaming debris, charred and hissing from the mysterious heat that had tear them apart from the walls and the floors and the roofs. There were also particles of dusts everywhere, flying through the rays of sunlight that broke in from the giant gaping wall that sizzled in red hot temperature.

The world burned into view as the mirage effect danced on the surface of the room, showing the figure of a fair-skinned girl in the middle of the chaos.

Mika Tatsuya looked around her with flat eyes, the thrusters on her shoulder blades began to close up with a light whir as she spotted no visible signs of her enemy in her perimeter area.

Her build-in sensors, located exclusively in her eye, scanned the destruction around her that she made herself. In her mind, she created a three-dimensional imagining, her movement sensors and heat detectors began to pinpoint her surroundings.

" _Calculating possible attack scenarios…"_ The monotone voice in her mind said. _"312,090 possible attack scenarios: 22,709 from above (pounce, kick, claw), 13,859 from the sides (pounce, kick, punch, claw), 4873 from—"_

 **THUNK!**

The rock hit Mika's head the moment she was still calculating, making her unable to comprehend it. She calculated the trajectory, looking past her shoulder. _"… A discharging object…"_

She propelled backwards, speeding faster than the average human. Bluish beam shot out from her leg, pushing her forward with great momentum, the rockets on her shoulder blades steered her around until she was able to jump over the giant wall of debris.

Just before she could catch a glimpse of anything, everything around her turned into a watery streak of aquamarine. Her sensors however, indicated nothing out of the ordinary, but she knew what was going on.

Before she knew it, her leg was swung upwards with sudden acceleration, making the thrusters on her feet boost her backwards and on the wrong direction. There was an unknown gust of wind, and a blur of blue and white. She couldn't pick up any more than that as she propelled away uncontrollably.

With a loud crash, she landed on the rough floor painfully. She forced her thrusters shut, stopping herself from propelling.

Not long after, a giggle echoed from around her.

"Sweet dreams are made of thiiiis~"

Miyu pursed her lips, her prosthetic eyeball moving around in her socket, trying to catch a glimpse of her opponent in the chaotic world around her. She realized that she was no longer in a 'decelerated-timeframe', judging by the way the world looked.

From the data she had stored earlier, she reminded herself what kind of Quirk her opponent had.

" _Emitter; slowing down every possible matter in a spherical radius; full capability unknown…"_ It was every information she had on Kudou Satou. The lack of data had somehow made her feel a tad bit ire.

She brought a finger up to her chin, thinking thoroughly of her own situation as the giggles kept echoing in her earshot. She knew that he was not using his Quirk, which was marked by the world suddenly turning aquamarine-blue, but she still could not catch a glimpse of him anywhere.

" _Perhaps, I am evaluating this incorrectly… I need to figure out the entirety of the objects in which he can slow down, which particularly is quite significant…"_

Kudou's voice kept ringing everywhere, even when Mika was still following him around the room. "Who am I to disaaaagre~"

" _Moments ago, my sensors could definitely feel the particles of air around me move in a significantly faster speed, thus marking his unquestionably accelerated movements in decelerated time, inherently not the type of matter his barrier could not decelerate."_

Mika stopped as his voice had seemed to be bouncing off from corners to corners. "I travel the wooorld and the seveeeen seas~"

" _Using Einstein's Theory of Relativity, I can perhaps calculate the time spent on his person rather than the perimeter that his barrier creates. It is said that time moves slower, if an object moves faster, and Kudou Satou's Quirk inherently creates an environment similar to that theorized by Einstein. However, if the Theory does apply to the timeframe affected by Kudou Satou's Quirk, then the entirety of the surrounding world, in Kudou Satou's fundamental perspective judging by the indubitable fact that he could inherently move while everything else decreases its velocity…"_

The propellers in her feet closed down, making her brake in midair, still hearing Kudou's voice in the room with Kudou himself nowhere to be seen. "Eeeeveryboooody's… looking for something~"

But Mika had realized something crucial, her eyes widened in realization. "Then, if my theory is correct, Kudou Satou wouldn't be able to be comprehended anything he sees in his vision!"

Her train of calculations stopped abruptly when she heard a dropping sound from above. She spun around from where she stood, until she finally faced the unhinged smile that had been grinning at her from the beginning.

The blue-haired boy had dropped from the concrete joist in the ceiling, he had undoubtedly used his accelerated speed in slowed time to jump around from levels to levels. The boy had opened sleeves from a costume strikingly similar to the straightjackets they give to the mentally disturbed in an asylum. The pants that he wore was simply baggy shorts, with belts jumping around on his waist, just like several more on both his neck and body. But what was the most unusual, almost as if it was screaming spectacular into the air, was the sphere-shaped mask that bore a cartoonish smile, decorated with two unmoving ears on both sides of his head.

"How about you? Are you looking for something?" Kudou's voice asked from beneath his mask, crouching on the floor right after his landing.

"Tell me, Kudou Satou," Mika started, "how is it are you able to _perceive_ in decelerated time? According to all known laws of physics, there is no way Kudou Satou should be able to perceive time moving slower than he does. You do not own an ability to do so to help you perceive it."

"Yeah, that's true." Kudou admitted as he scratched the side of his mask. "But Kudou Satou, of course, perceives anyway, because Kudou Satou doesn't care what humans think is impossible."

"Is that so…" Mika concluded, until she pointed her mechanical arm at him. "Then, shall I test something as well?"

Her hand began to open up, clicking and whirring in a robotic way. In an instant, a nozzle had appeared from the gap of her mechanical arm, filling up the casings with bluish energy like the chambering of a cartridge of a gun.

Not even a second later, her laser cannon exploded with a **THOOOM!** Shooting blue light into his direction.

But Kudou merely smiled. He took in a huge gulp of air before he activated his Quirk.

From his body, a barrier swallowed the whole room and covering it in watery blue haze, similar to being underwater. Time had inherently slowed down, everything else around him had moved in a decelerated manner much completely.

Mika's laser cannon's beam was still rushing towards him, but it was now moving in one in a thousandth time slower than before. He made his move and kicked himself forward.

He easily dodged the cannon with a rather lax expression, slowly approaching her in a hasty way. Then, with a mischievous expression, he flicked his finger on her forehead.

On slowed down time, where everything but him moves in a normal speed, he gained the advantage of quite the extra boost of acceleration. When multiplied by his mass, he could create a contact force stronger than in his normal timeframe.

However, one downside to his Quirk was that he couldn't actually breathe properly in his sphere of decelerated time, forcing him to hold his breath for an amount of time.

When he deactivated his Quirk, Mika flung backwards from the increased strike force, coming from just a finger flick.

The girl had no idea what else was coming to her, but she had managed to stand her ground once more and let her computer brain calculate any possible attacking source.

But little did she knew that Kudou was not to be understated.

He activated his Quirk once more, gulping in a newer set of air stored inside his cheeks. While in slowed down time, he had the malicious idea to try and play with her more than she could anticipate.

He jabbed and flicked at every corner of her body, making her feel the attack like how she would feel a punch. Kudou activated and reactivated his Quirk just to see her stumble back and forth in confusion from his attacks.

She ultimately fell down to her knees in exhaustion, feeling her fleshy body sore from being hit over and over again. The machinations in her body gave off a rather overworked fume, whirring hotly inside her. Her face was sweating, she was also panting profusely. Her computer brain had failed to think straight.

Kudou appeared from behind her, grinning at her weakened state. He then stumbled upon something curious, right at the base of her spine, not covered by her leotard.

It was shiny in metallic color, it was colored in blue _and_ red at the same time, it had cables going up and down from her back towards her rear. To Kudou, the most mischievous and wicked boy there was, that particular spot on her back was just _begging_ to be touched.

"Ooh, what does this do!" He cooed, his finger reaching down towards the base of her spine.

But Mika unfortunately noticed this, before screaming out in horror, "No! Stop! That's my— _KYAAAAAH_!"

.

In the midst of battle between Miyu Yakushi and Yato Shimura, both parties showed no sign of surrendering.

Yato Shimura definitely had gotten himself familiar enough with his Quirk that he can regress it to point of it being non-threatening, making it similar to any form of non-hazardous metal known to man. He had also controlled his Quirk to shape it into any shape he wanted, giving him a handful of weapons at his artillery. But he had showed focus at a whole different level; she took on both Miyu and Mori Kururugi at the same time.

But Miyu Yakushi was a different story altogether. She was raised in the streets, giving her years and years of learning from the worst kinds of people. She knew her way around a fight, and how to win it with any tactics necessary. Fighting for her was a common thing, if it meant critically injuring her opponent. Everything she did was calculated. She hadn't intended to back down any moment now.

Mori was being forced down to back away from the many hovering spikes of mercury that aimed at her, but she had nonetheless effectively dodged all of them. The spikes orbited around Yato, shielding him from Mori as he fought Miyu head on.

But then, as the scythe of bone clashed with the sabers of mercury, she had unexpectedly heard something she shouldn't.

"… _KYAAAAAH!_ "

Miyu momentarily froze, feeling her cheeks burn at the sound of it.

Yato then took advantage of the opening before kicking her straight in the guts, making her flung backwards a few steps.

She was forced to back away, creating distance between him and his sabers.

The both of them stared at each other in the eye with predatory gazes. Mori then suddenly came to Miyu's side with a rather concerned look on her face. Little did she knew Miyu was already quite troubled in her own head.

" _Oi! Oi! Oi! What the hell was that?!"_ She screamed inside her mind, her pale cheeks still showing traces of crimson. _"Was that—? No… WAS MIKA BEING HARASSED?!... No! Stop thinking about it, moron! Remember your OWN fight!"_

It was an undeniable, yet unknowable truth that she had the tendency to swing at her _own kind_. And she couldn't be blamed for feeling flushed at the sound of such predicament.

" _Oh… damn this, my heart's beating too fast!"_ Miyu gulped in panic, her lips trembling in anticipation. _"Stopthinkingaboutit! Stopthinkingaboutit! STOPTHINKINGABOUTIT!"_

Just as she was close to regaining her composure, she saw Yato.

He was blushing madly and his lips and eye were twitching.

If there was an elephant in the room, then he would be it.

" _HE'S THINKING ABOUT IT TOO!"_ Miyu screamed in horror inside her own mind, her face flushing even more.

Beside her, Mori noticed the rather unsettling expression she was making. The wolf girl approached her and began to whisper next to her ear. Mori's ears drooped in silent bewilderment.

"Hey… uhh… you looking pretty red there. You okay?" She asked in mild curiosity.

The world seemed to be moving at a standstill, where everything had ceased all of its course of action. Miyu was one of it, along with a rather embarrassed Yato and a mildly concerned Mori. All battle had almost come to a temporary truce, with circumstances unforeseen to both party.

An eternity seemed to have passed, until Miyu had suddenly took a deep breath. Her chest rising up gradually.

She threw a rather determined look at Mori before telling her, "Keep Shimura busy."

"Eh?", was the only thing Mori could say in response, "W-what? Why—"

And before she knew it, Miyu had suddenly dashed forward. Her speed increasing in mere seconds before accelerating in a rather inhumane speed, towards an unsuspecting Yato.

The silver-haired boy jolted back in shock, his composure suddenly thrown off balance as he had unknowingly laid eyes upon the sight of a berserker Miyu, frantically speeding his way with a horrifying look on her face.

Instinctively, Yato activated his Quirk in defense. Not even a few seconds later, mercury began to form under his feet before exploding upwards; extending towards the ceiling like an artificial wall, devised to forcibly stop her in her tracks.

… But it didn't stop her.

… It didn't stop her at all.

With a watery splash, she had broken through the poisonous wall of mercury like a rugby player through several opponents. Yato couldn't believe she was insane enough to do that, until he saw the armor that had grown on her skin.

She was like a Viking… from the underworld… Her body was completely covered from head to toe in white, bone-like structure that shielded her from the poisoning. Two horns erupted from the top of her skull, bending backwards in a menacing way. Spikes grew out of every joints in her body. Her exoskeleton was furnished with a skull on her chest.

With absolutely no effort, she crashed her shoulder onto Yato's poor torso.

He flew backwards from the momentum, unable to catch himself in time before rolling into the distance like the pitiful victim of a car accident hitting a pedestrian.

He stopped moving, face down onto the concrete with Miyu already disappearing onto the next floor.

"… So uncalled for…" He managed to wheeze out, lifting his head up to trace the room around him.

Mori could only watch in horror, grief, and pure agony. She watched as Yato was beginning to pick himself up, making her somewhat wince in discomfort as she remembered the loud traumatic crash when Miyu had collided into him.

The two stared eye-to-eye, with Yato's eye still twitching in pain.

Miyu somewhat felt bad, but she needed to remember her original mission: take the heroes out at all cost. If Miyu was already upstairs and handling both Oboro and Mika, then she should be fine on her own while making Yato Shimura busy.

"You… err… alright there?" She unknowingly called out.

Yato blinked a few times. "Yeah. I'm alright."

With an awkward cough, she asked again, "So… we doing this?"

"If you want." He shrugged while stretching out his shoulders from the soreness of the crash.

Mori made a rather unpleasant expression, _"No choice huh?"_

"… Alright then…"

.

Just a few minutes ago…

… the stimulated scream of a 15-year-old girl echoed throughout the floor.

Then her body shivered, she was trembling on the concrete floor uncontrollably. She looked down on the floor with such a pained expression, but her cheeks were burning amber and redder than any part of her body. She had never felt such _strong_ sensation before. Why would she? The mechanism on the base of her spin wasn't supposed to be touched by _anyone_.

Why? Because it activated the most vital part of her body.

" _Ara_?" Kudou breathed out, quite taken aback by her reaction. He began connecting the dots, knowing what such button could be doing in quite a low area. " _Ara_? _Ara_? _Ara_? Could it be? Did I just activate your…?"

He seemed rather satisfied in her predicament, knowing that nobody else had found the treasure chest lying inside Mika's body. She felt like being undressed by his gaze in a bad way.

"Ohohohoho!" He giggled gleefully, "My, my, Mika-chaaaan! No wonder you've been so reserved! How long have you been holding yourself back? Must've been _hell_!"

Listening to his hurtful prattling unknowingly made her sob under her breath. She knew perfectly well that this was due to her extreme hormone levels running around in her system. She shivered and breathed in a raspy tone, the circuits in her mind going mad, and she couldn't handle the unbearable twitching from _down there_.

Kudou then bent down towards her ear, grinning and breathing directly at it. "Hey! Hey! How did it feel? Hmmm? How did you go through life without experiencing puberty? Did you have it repressed from birth? What about physical changes? Is that why your body is so small? Then, then how do you get yourself ferti—"

Something went off with a loud **FSHOOOO!** Covering the room with thick smoke.

Kudou Satou's form was engulfed completely in the gaseous hazard. But just as the smoke began to disperse at once, he was nowhere to be found. Kudou had completely disappeared from the face of the earth.

Just seconds later, Oboro Kirikagure had hurriedly walked in into the room after successfully interfering with whatever creepy stuff Kudou was going to do again.

The tall boy looked down at the sight of Mika hugging both her flesh and metal arms in a pitiful state. Her long black hair flowed down towards the concrete floor as she hung her head and hid her face.

He bent one knee before reaching to her level, feeling rather awful for not interfering faster. With a blank look on his face, he tried to talk some sense into her.

"Yo, Tatsuya? Everything alright there?" He awkwardly asked her.

He didn't know exactly what Kudou Satou did to her, he wasn't there from the start to see from the beginning.

But when he touched her shoulder, trying to urge her to snap back into reality, had suddenly found himself facing Mika's cannon arm, glowing directly at his face. His face froze, his pupils watched as bluish light began to burn and burn, until…

"Uuuu…. YOU LECHEROUS DEVIANT!"

 **KA-THOOOOM!**

Oboro had now been gifted with the ability to bend his spine backwards further than he originally can. He had a bewildered expression on his face, watching the laser cannon barely missed his head by an inch.

He stumbled back, still feeling the heat on his face. "HOLY FUCK! W-w-what the—"

When he lifted his head to catch a glimpse of Mika, he saw her face burning beet red. There were tears building up in the corners of her eyes, staring at him in surprise. In between fear and shock, Oboro listened to her stutter.

"Oh… m-my… Please forgive me, I do not realize—!" She stammered, unable to control herself. "I am t-truly sorry, O-Oboro Kirikagure… P-please ex-cuh-cuse mys-s-self for a second…"

Her hand instantly flung towards her back, her fingers circling around the base of her spine in order to find the right mechanism to completely reverse whatever was wrong with her body.

With a light click, she could finally breath in relief.

She panted down, sweating profusely. _"Vigilance!"_ She screamed inside her mind, _"Constant vigilance! No individual shall EVER touch my regressor mechanisms ever again!"_

Seconds after she slowly regained her composure, she looked ahead towards the shaken state Oboro was in. Even after she had effectively controlled the regulations of the hormones in her body, she couldn't help but to feel heat coming to her cheeks.

Whether it was out of embarrassment or… that _other_ feeling… she didn't know.

"Oh, please forgive my reckless actions, Oboro Kirikagure!" She bowed down in a hurry, still feeling the abnormal sensation heating her cheeks. "I did not mean to do such awful actions on your person!"

"That's… fine…" Oboro managed to breathed out, still feeling his forehead sizzling in mild head. "Please just try to put a… safety on your arm, or something…"

Mika said nothing, she merely glowered down with her head hung. Oboro then managed to pick himself up all by himself. He brushed his costume robe from the dust that piled up against his cloth.

He looked around him, remembering the opponent that had disappeared from sight.

While he did know Kudou, he couldn't imagine what _anyone_ would to create such shameful moan out a young girl's mouth, before leaving her in a shaken state like earlier.

He did not want to remember, not when whatever Kudou did had earned the title of a 'lecherous deviant'.

"You good, there?" He asked his teammate once more.

Mika merely nodded in a weak way.

"So… uh… how did it go with Satou?" He asked her, not knowing what else to say.

Mika didn't answer, there was a brief suspenseful silence from her. Oboro watched as she began to breathe deeply into her lungs, the palm of her hands still shaking from the sheer mysterious concupiscence that tremored throughout her body.

A lone thought scratched at the back of her mind, knowing that such intense feeling was rare for someone like her to experience. She burned red yet again, remembering the uncontrollable impulse that echoed in her head.

With a rather irritated look on her face, pursing her lips from anger, she snapped up saying "We have no more to fear from Kudou Satou, for I have retrieved a valuable information about his Quirk and its nature."

"What, you have another trick up your sleeve or something?"

"Impossible," Mika sternly reprimanded, "for I currently am not wearing any visible sleeves."

"… Okay..." Oboro remarked, "We should probably hurry, Shimura said Yakushi is heading this way as we speak."

"No."

"Excuse me."

With a fiery look in her icy eyes, Mika reprimanded once more, "No. I trust you to be able to engage with Miyu Yakushi head on."

Her gaze darkened, showing an ominous sign of maliciousness.

"I shall take care of Kudou Satou by himself. We heroes shall win this Battle Trial."

* * *

 **U.A. Building -** **09:50 a.m.**

* * *

Seiji Orimura stared at the water dispenser in front of him. Bubbles flying from the dark descent towards the top of the gallon.

"What the…" He muttered to himself, watching the dispenser taps merely giving him a couple droplets of water.

He tried shaking it, knowing that such things couldn't have probably gotten empty since he could literally see the level of water on the gallon in front of him still having three-fourth of its contents left. The sound of him mercilessly shaking the water dispenser echoed throughout the hallway.

He and his team were given a total of fifteen minutes to change clothes, rest, before going back to the monitoring room with the others.

But he actually couldn't be bothered, not when he needed the rest of Team A and Team D with him.

He felt like prolonging his time for just a few more moments, even if he knew that it had gone way past 5 minutes. Now that he thought about it, would it be really wise to be procrastinating? He was quite worried, honestly.

Remembering back to when he was picked up by the school drones from amidst the ruins of the metal beam assemblies, he noticed how numb he had felt when those 40-pound beams stacked upon his body one after another. He literally felt nothing, not even the feeling of the way his spine almost cracked inwards from the weight. He was met with Recovery Girl shortly afterwards, telling him how very unusually lucky for his body to be able to stand so much stress. He couldn't remember the look she gave when he talked about that it was not the first time that had happened, but he figured that she might have taken a disliking to him.

He supposed that didn't matter, he knew that he should take care of his body more. He was rather more perturbed by the fact that Suki didn't black out from being so close to him while he was being in great pain. He tried asking her about it, apologizing to her if he had somehow accidentally transferred his pain onto her, but she had merely shrugged him off without saying anything. He sorted of felt responsible.

Then, he remembered meeting with Adachi, just a mere foot away from Jun's broken and bruised body, talking to both Tarasu and Kaori about what had happened. He seemed rather concerned for the three of them, even at Tarasu who had fought Jun like hell.

Seiji probably shouldn't mention how he noticed that Jun was Adachi's favorite student, but he did anyway. He didn't expect someone like Adachi to steer away from the topic when he heard that from Seiji.

Nonetheless, Seiji knew that he had somehow taken a part in all this mess. This Battle Trial had taken a turn for the worse. Like, much, much worse. Jun had almost died, Seiji himself had almost died, Suki had almost died, you get the point. But he was as sure as the ponytail on the back of his head, that Adachi had taken the effect much greater than all of them combined.

" _This has to stop."_ Seiji had thought, knowing how important of a problem it is if this class was to lose Adachi as its homeroom teacher.

The first thing he knew was that he owed him, for the months he had been given a room, a bed, and a place to live. Hell, he couldn't have asked for friends either but Adachi surely got him those. Which was why, he should try to at least make Jun understand both his and the rest of the class' situation. If Seiji couldn't fix himself, he should at least try to fix Jun, the most impactful person the class had to offer.

" _That might've been an overstatement_ , _"_ Seiji pondered, _"but I know how important it is to have Jun on the class. Kaori knows it, which was probably why she wanted to go the extra mile just to help him. I couldn't blame her, not when I was probably as blind as she was. But at least we are sorting stuff out, now. At least, now that Kaori is willing to take the effort to talk to Jun, he'll come around…"_

He was no psychiatrist, but he'll try to help someone if it came within his power. He'll try to understand Jun a little bit more, knowing that Seiji's ignorant self almost looked past his circumstance. Kaori perhaps had realized that a bit earlier, all Seiji needed to do then was to catch up.

" _Oh yeah… I wonder what I'm going to say to Adachi about this…"_ He wondered, still shaking the water dispenser in agony, _"He'll understand, I guess. Jun's a pretty important person to him. Making Jun to come around might be the best thing that'll happen to him."_

Water had yet to come out of the dispenser taps, neither the cold nor the hot one worked. He scratched the side of his scalp in confusion, careful not to touch the small wound that was caused by beams falling on top of it.

He looked around him, wondering if there was anyone else in the school hallway with him. With a quick movement, he tried to lift the dispenser with all his strength. Trying to find out what was wrong.

Until he heard a voice…

"What are you doing…?"

Stammering, he accidentally let go of the water dispenser as it fell back down to the table with a loud bang. His hands fiddled with the sides, trying to balance it back in place, panicking in the process. And when he spun around, he came across a sight he didn't expect to see.

The one and only Suki Takara was now staring at him with her lips curled up, blue eyes filled with incredulity. She was in her school uniform, hugging her hourglass figure effectively. The midday sun, creeping from the rows of windows behind her, colored her light chocolate hair just enough as it shone a beautiful amber hue.

"Suki!" He exclaimed, his body instinctively trying to act cool, "Hi! Hi. Uh. Hello there. How you doin'? Nice weather we're having!"

"You're a disgrace." She suddenly spat out, scanning his pathetic form to save his pride from top to bottom, "You do know that it was unplugged, right?"

Seiji glanced down, towards just about the foot of the table, only to find a lone electrical plug laying there on the floor.

With a light shove, he kicked it away. "I… do not know what you're talking about…"

The girl merely shook her head. "I need to talk to you about something."

"Is it about me lifting the dispenser? Look, it might seem like it, but it's not what you think—"

"No!" She yelled out in exasperation, "I'm not talking about that damn water dispenser!"

Seiji merely gave a light chuckle. He knew what it costed, trying to play with their conversation and all that. But he was a very fickle person, and he knew this well. Perhaps he should not have tried to lighten up the mood too quickly, judging by the state Suki Takara was in.

He could see a forlorn gaze in her eyes, something that didn't seem like harboring a dangerous Quirk. He knew where this was going, and he didn't like it. He did not want to talk about how he had tried to force Suki down a building.

With an awkward scratch at the back of his head, he let out a rather low laugh. "Yeah… I know… I'm sorry about pushing you off of the building. Must've been pretty angry at me after that, huh?"

The atmosphere was heavier than he had imagined. Perhaps, it was because he remembered how very _terrifying_ she was in the Battle Trial, willing to expose anyone to her Quirk without a second thought. She had also unknowably faked her death, and Seiji still didn't know why she did it. But it still shocked him more than it should. He guessed that she was just furious, back then. And she was trying to get him back for it.

Regardless, he knew that Suki was having her own problems at the time. And it seemed rather quick for her to try to talk about it just half an hour later. But he realized that perhaps the both of them knew that they could save the time moaning about it for later.

Seiji was opened for anything she'd like to throw at him. He knew part of this was his fault. He just didn't want to prolong the abhorrence she had for him.

"I'm sorry."

"… Huh?"

Suki looked away, her cheeks seemed to be flushing crimson. "L-look, it's not like I'm _really_ s-sorry, or anything! But… I mean… part of this is your fault… It's just that All Might told me to do this because he felt sorry for you… a-and, whatever that he said about you being a great example of a hero!"

Her outbursts were sort of surprising for Seiji. For someone who had lived to feel the full power of her Quirk, he didn't expect such reaction to come from her.

She seemed to be starting to steam herself off, making Seiji a bit comfortable enough to comprehend her.

"I'm just… so mad that he went on and on about how everyone should be like you and Tsukinose and not rush into action! Like, I get it, okay? You two are the model students!"

Seiji felt himself rooted to the ground, unable to react nor move. Hearing this from her felt had made him sick. He kept telling himself to go through it, saying that it would all be worth it.

It wasn't like he hated being praised. But he felt like he hadn't done anything notably worthy to earn such titles.

"Yeah, I know I'm not strong! I know I shouldn't have let my emotions get over me! I'm sorry, okay?!" She stopped, huffing uncontrollably, "But I just… can't be the same as you people… God… I shouldn't have joined this program…"

He watched her rubbing her hand up and down her arms in an uncomfortable way, but he felt like she had just had something being lifted off of her shoulders. He tried to glance a look at her eyes once more, but she was good at hiding it under her bangs. When she said she regretted joining, he wanted to see what had changed.

"Say something, would you?" She mumbled out in a hissing manner.

Seiji blinked. "I… don't understand why you had to apologize to me! I mean, sure, maybe you _did_ go a little bit too overboard, but I know it must've been personal. But I really don't care. Honest! And besides, we're all students, we're still learning to become heroes. Everyone has the same chance."

"It's not that simple!" She cried out, "I know why it irritates me, okay? Sometimes people just… goes on and on about how their family or idol or whatever is so heroic and rich and noble and it suddenly makes them obliged to become heroes and blah, blah, blah!"

"You know people have their reasons," Seiji cut in, "like you do, in a way. And… It doesn't change the fact that you were once on board with us."

"On board?" Suki said with scoff, "Ever since Tsukinose started bossing everyone, who would in their right mind wanted to be 'on board'? I thought we were 'experimental', and yet, she took it like it was the end of the world! She envisioned us like… we were some kind of pillars that hold the balance of the universe!"

"She really is, isn't she…?"

"Look where it got Hamada!"

"You're absolutely right…"

Seiji didn't like talking about his best friend behind her back like this. He never found himself to be a good judge of a person. Though, he could say the same with himself.

Suki almost fell silent, "And you're still willing to help someone like him…"

"Right…"

"You two still wanted to have this program continue…"

The two girls in question shared two different ways of thinking. Seiji understood that much.

He knew how Suki was obsessed with doing things on her own, but Kaori was the kind of person who'd like to go neck deep on someone else's situation. He couldn't honestly blame Suki for being mad. Hell, even he thought that Kaori had her negative side.

But all in all, he knew Kaori meant well, and she was still his best friend. Suki must've thought herself to be the same.

"… It's not that I… hate her…" Suki revealed, "Do you know how annoying it is for me to be shadowed by everyone else? Kaori just don't think before she acts and tries to get between me and my own personal stuffs. It's _facts_ , she hates me for being less heroic. I'm not… like you two…"

"She doesn't hate you," Seiji rebuked without hesitation, "I'm serious, she really doesn't. Okay, sure, maybe her way of helping others seemed to be too frontal. But she had come from a spot where she wasn't even allowed to be so. Her first thought coming here was probably the same as you, Suki. To graduate as heroes whatever the cost. She was the kind of person who'd like to take charge, just like you were in the Battle Trial. But she knows she needs us all to work together to get to each and all our goals. So, in her behalf, I'm sorry."

Suki watched with wide-eyes as Seiji suddenly bowed in front of her. The boy never noticed the tone in his voice when talking about Kaori that way, but he didn't mind. He knew he did wrong, he was just trying to make up for it for being ignorant for all this time.

"Kaori is not at fault." Seiji pointed out once more, still feeling the sting in her heart, "Neither are you. You're the kind of person who takes time fitting in, and I don't blame you for that. And you still have the same chance as us in being heroes."

"How…" Suki said, breathless, "how can you say that so easily? Is it really that simple for you? Is being a hero the _only_ thing you can think of? Is that why… why I fail? Because I don't _suck up_ to heroes as much as you do?"

Seiji seemed to be taken aback, "W-what?"

"You think I… don't want to become a hero?" Suki said in a low voice, her lips shaking, "This is the only place I can be free… But I've never had the experience nor the knowledge! You think that's wrong, don't you? For someone such as myself to be here…"

There were so many things wrong with that sentence, Seiji wanted to say.

He remembered how very excited he was to take part in the Battle Trials, but when Kaori had fought with Jun, it made him see how very little he knew about his class and how very inexperienced he was in teamwork-based activities. Suki shouldn't be given the same treatment, he realized. She had a difficult childhood, and a very complex mindset; something that Seiji wouldn't understand.

Alas, the same circumstances fell back to the one he tried to fix with Jun. His relationship with him still isn't going as planned as he tried to make it. But perhaps, he hoped he couldn't say the same with Suki Takara. He honestly was glad she was in the class with him, she could actually become the first thing he would try to understand.

Maybe, the first step was to let others understand him…

"You know I've… never actually gotten to tell you why I want to be a hero so bad." He said with a rather hesitant expression, leaning back into the table behind him.

Suki went quiet, curious for whatever he had to say. With a deep breath, Seiji had sealed his fate, and told his story.

"I am an orphan." He started, "I never knew my real parents… Well… I know who they are but… I never got the faintest idea of what they would be like if they were… err… alive…"

The girl in front of him watched as he shuffled uncomfortably, while she herself crossed her arms and leaned back towards the wall, her back barely brushing against the window.

"Anyway, I'm an orphan, right? Heh, I'd probably be the first person you'd think to have such awful backstory, but here's the thing, I really had a… villainous lineage." He said, drawing in another deep breath, "It was my mother. She was a crazed woman who raped my dad before killing him right after. I was born right before she died, in a hospital surrounded by police. Nobody knew what they wanted to do with a kid like me. I mean—haha! –even the hospital had to transfer me several times due to the fact that my mother had a… similarly dangerous Quirk and wanted to secure me before I was four.

"So yeah, I was a throwaway. But my father… erm… adoptive-father—a police officer—decided to take me in. I was living an almost peaceful live with a sister and a dad, we had a house in the rural, next to the rice fields where the crickets sang. But when my Quirk took control, I almost killed my old classmates, I was then beginning to be labelled as a dangerous kid. My dad never cared, though, he took me in because he knew I was just a kid, and just because I had a very dangerous Quirk doesn't mean I would become a villain.

"Then… dad fell sick… his illness was incurable even with healing Quirks. But they prolonged his life to this date. And it was why I left my home for the first time. I got nowhere else to go since… umm… dad doesn't work anymore and my sister just got into college… we're barely making any money. And so, I did the only thing necessary: leave town and find money for my own.

"I was searching for a purpose; my life had always felt like I am being repressed. My Quirk was dangerous, I was shunned, exiled. Been blacklisted from several school and fired from several workplaces, mind you. I just really… _really_ wanted to become someone else… that was the reason I left in the first place. I felt like I was ready, I felt like I could take on the world by myself, and I felt like I was right… But then the world said otherwise. You get what I mean? It always like, everything you try to do is wrong, or aren't even given the chance redeem it. I've been wandering around Tokyo for a year before Adachi founded me, I didn't know what I wanted to do, my life was going downhill. Then, and only then, I found purpose. I was going to become a hero, it was a dream come true.

"So, I've set my mark, I'm not gonna back down from it." He told her with a determined look on his face, the grip on his glass tightening, "I'm not going to be the same person my mother was. Dad believed I was my own man, that I can change my own fate. Adachi believed it too, which was why I wanted to do all I can to help him and the class at once. Lastly, Kaori was the first to acknowledged it, she was the first person to think that we can _all_ become heroes, together."

Suki made a rather blank expression, looking straight at him in the eye.

"Kaori was right, we couldn't do this alone." Seiji said, "At least we have something in common; we all wanted to change fate. You don't have to look up to anyone to do that, and it doesn't mean you can't become a hero as well. There will always be people helping you out. Whether you want to take it is up to you."

"I do." Suki unknowingly blurted out, "But I don't know how. How can I make sure that I don't fuck up and let myself get angry like last time?"

Seiji looked down towards his feet. "I don't know."

Suki's head slowly glances up, a puzzled look on her face. Then, Seiji continued.

"You think I'm a model student, but that's all bullshit! Regardless… I'm willing to help." He told her, "Besides, didn't we promise to become heroes together?"

Scarlet formed in Suki's cheeks, she felt somewhat in relief. She never had heard that from anyone before; the willingness to help others without a second thought. It awed her. Then it dawned her that perhaps she could, at the least, trust this boy.

She had never been the kind of person to like company, she knew that too well. But did it excuse her behavior? She came here to change, after all.

How did it become like this?

This wasn't how she wanted it to go. Everything was going just as she would've expected. She was happy.

She had secluded herself from others. She had honestly believed that she could do things by herself.

She was wrong.

* * *

 **Battle Simulation Field - 10:15** **a.m.**

* * *

Oboro's eyes gazed forward towards the staircase going down to the lower floor. His footsteps echoing in the room as he approached it with great caution.

Smoke fumed out of his mouth, filling the surrounding air with nothing but his essence. His looming figure stood at the other end of the room, waiting for something to come out of that particular stairwell.

He heard running, something was approaching his area.

He waited patiently, knowing that whatever that would come out wouldn't get past him by an inch.

The running footsteps got louder, until a silhouette went out from the darkness of the stairwell. Horns popped out into the light, pale bone-like armor came into view, and unfaltering eyes that stared into his own.

Miyu Yakushi's footsteps let up, noticing him in front of her, blocking her path from getting to Kudou.

"You gonna move?" She asked him snappily.

"I'm afraid not." Oboro responded with a nonchalant voice.

Miyu merely chuckled, "Shame, and I was willing to spare you."

"Pretty dark for a hero in training," Oboro teased, half-smiling, "you sure you didn't fit into the villain category?"

"Oh?" Miyu cocked her eyebrow, "And how about you? How did a trash of society end up practicing Hero Course?"

"Hey man," Oboro shrugged, lifting the smoking palms of his hands, "if I win, I win. No holding back, dude."

"Indeed." Miyu clapped her arms together before pulling them apart, a small staff appeared before her, "Care to rebuke about you winning?"

Oboro cracked out a grin, "Make me."

The skeleton girl instantly dashed forward. The staff in her hand elongated to the point of it resembling closely to a spear. The sharp point drove straight into her opponent's head. Her movements were unstable, and Oboro only had one chance to find her opening.

With a quick rush of adrenaline, he slammed down both his hands towards the floor. From under his skin, an explosion of smoke began to fill up the room like a windstorm.

Miyu braked as her body was hit with millions upon millions of sharp gaseous winds, almost like standing in the middle of a whirlwind of razors. The gas strike through her bone armor, invading any small opened cracks in her joints.

With a sharp click of her tongue, she held her breath in. She quickly ran her Quirk down her face, instantly giving her a makeshift bone gas mask.

She tightened the grip on her spear before rushing forwards once more.

In her mind she had pinpointed the exact location Oboro had been standing on before he disappeared under the cloak of gas. Miyu pulled back her spear, feeling the prickly gas around her getting more and more thicker by the second.

As her legs were almost close to giving up, she stabbed her spear downwards. The sheer force of her thrust dispersed the smoke around her, giving her a clear view of her target…

… until she realized that she had missed him completely.

" _WHAT?!"_ She screamed inside her head, staring at the empty spot Oboro had been in.

"What was that again, about winning?"

The taunting voice appeared from somewhere behind her. In a haze, Miyu spun around with a rather panicked expression. Her eyes widened when she spotted a hand over her own masked face.

 **FSHOOOO!** And Miyu was thrown backwards by the sudden strength that pushed her back.

Her gas mask was already closet to its breaking point, unfortunately for her she didn't know an adequate gas mask if she was forced to create one with her Quirk.

She stumbled backwards, feeling the unbreathable gas filling her mask. She coughed and churned inside her mask, blindly trying to run out of the area. Not even a minute later, her legs gave up.

Oboro forcefully pulled back the gas that filled the room, giving light to the area once more. He approached the kneeling form of Miyu on the floor in front of him. He pulled back his sleeves and let his hands show the spilling smoke coming from his palm.

Miyu looked up towards him, coughing madly as she struggled to open her makeshift mask. Once it came off, she gave a red eyed stare towards her opponent, saying nothing.

Oboro noticed her sigh in exhaustion, before she finally tried to comfortably sit on where she was. She was huffing and puffing, the pale skin on her neck glistening with sweat.

"You done?" He tried to ask her.

Miyu nodded at him, still struggling to breathe properly.

"… Sorry about that."

"Nah… It's cool." She reassured him.

There was a brief second of silence between them. Oboro shifted uncomfortably on where he stood.

"You… gave me quite a scare." Oboro admitted.

"Same here," Miyu casually said, "I thought I was going to die."

"You're a pretty relentless girl, you know that?" He remarked, "Why didn't you go on upstairs and join Satou?"

"… It was already a checkmate when you blasted the room with smoke."

"That wasn't the case in the Quirk Apprehension Tests…"

"Hey, Smokey, look," Miyu cut him off, "I lost, you won. Let's leave it at that, okay?"

Oboro scrunched up his face in response, watching her chuckle in astonishment.

"You're a pretty fickle guy, aren't you?" She teased him.

"I'm not."

"Yeah, dude, you are."

"I'm not."

The conversation was cut off as quick as the laughter that broke through the atmosphere.

In Miyu's head, she was in peace. It was fun while it lasted, but she felt like all her effort had been quite enough. In silence she began to let her bone armor retract back to under her skin, only her strapless bra and baggy shorts were visible. She opens the strap on her crimson cape, letting it fall to the ground, the afternoon heat was slowly wearing her off.

Oboro watched from beside her, still unable to think of something to talk about. He slowly began to wander around, knowing that his purpose had been fulfilled.

Then, the both of them noticed the sound of footsteps coming from the darkness of the stairwell.

A figure came out to view, silver hair glistening under the dim light. Yato Shimura had gotten back from the last area he had been tasked to secure. From his back outstretched a giant watery silver that floated towards a ball above his head, where a crimson haired girl popped out her head from underneath.

Yato noticed Oboro the second he stepped into the room. "Fancy meeting you here."

"Uh…" Oboro's eyes were still affixed onto the floating mercury ball that entrapped Mori's body with only her head and the part from her waist down staying visible, "Yeah…"

"Oh, hey, Miyu." Mori called out, smiling widely as her body was slowly rotating in place, "Sorry, I lost. Shimura got ahead of me."

"I told her not to fight it, but she keeps thrashing around in the ball made out of my mercury." Yato added, averting his gaze to Miyu as he approached them, "Even when I told her that I can't focus on keeping the poison off of her if she keeps doing that. Your friend has quite the fight in her."

Mori merely guffawed at the statement, her tail swishing left and right, "Compared to Miyu, I haven't got anything, dude! Right, Miyu?"

Miyu looked up to her, a rather odd smile formed on the edge of her lipless mouth. She looked away, rocking on the concrete in which she sat on.

Mori noticed this and question her, while still floating in midair, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Miyu assured her once more, "Just tired, is all."

"Oh." Mori's ear seemed drooping, "Well, it was fun wasn't it?"

Miyu chuckled, leaning back with both her arms supporting her weight. She could still feel her body almost close to falling apart, probably because of the overuse of her Quirk. But Mori was right, she did had fun.

"I guess you're right," Mori smiled at her, now upside down while trapped within the mercury ball, "teamwork's pretty fun! Let's do this again sometimes!"

Miyu nodded in acceptance. She noticed that the two boys in the room had been listening to the conversation, "You guys good with that?"

"No thanks," Yato quickly turned her down, "I could get myself killed teaming up with you people."

"Or the other way around."

Yato rolled his eyes, "Okay, Kirikagure, which part of your Quirk doesn't cause cancer?"

Laughter filled in the room, the tense atmosphere had disappeared in an instant. And from that moment on, they began to feel a connection with each other. This was no longer a simulation, no longer a fight, but a bonding.

In their hearts, they finally felt solace.

.

Everything was aquamarine-blue.

Mika knew just as much as she was yet again trapped in one of Yato's sphere of decelerated time. She could feel herself moving quite fairly normal, knowing that her sensors had picked up nothing out of the ordinary.

However, she had grown to realized something crucial.

In another room, surrounded by dozens and dozens of concrete pillars, Mika stood inside the bluish colored area with her sharp eyes casted downwards. Everything else outside the sphere she was in should be moving in a normal manner, but to her sensors she couldn't pick up anything else.

She resorted in using her sufficient data. Losing combat was not an option.

She kicked up her sound sensors, her head titling left and right to find something out of the ordinary. And then, not even a second later, she picked up a lone sound behind her. Something similar to a sped up record of Kudou Satou's macabre laugh.

It was a giggle, and it seemed to be ricocheting from every corner of the room. She needed to concentrate, trace the noise.

" _There!"_ With laser focus, she flung her hand towards the source of the noise.

Her arm morphed into a cannon, fingers splitting apart from each other, a nozzle of silver protruded out of her palm. She had only a second to fire, in which she did.

But, rather than a laser cannon, she fired something else entirely.

 **SKREEEEEEE!**

"YAAAAARGH!"

From the nozzle came the voice of the banshee itself. Shattering any nearby windows, echoing through her surrounding with a frequency powerful enough to disrupt her own sensors. The earth-shattering melody screeched like a speed up record, she knew that this was due to Kudou's Quirk.

With just enough information, she needed to pull herself together for one final plan. She gritted her teeth, waiting for the decelerated world to shatter.

And just like that, Kudou's Quirk no longer took effect of her surroundings. The aquamarine world exploded apart like glass shattering into trillions of pieces. Mika then could finally see Kudou Satou, lying on the floor almost as if he had been knocked out.

In the amidst of the chaos, Mika was slowly fixing her sensors together. She had never used such technology as her arsenal. Such weapons could disrupt her own system if used incorrectly.

As her hand slowly morphed back into place, she walked towards the body of Kudou Satou.

" _Vitals… are working smoothly…"_ She remarked as she began scanning him from above.

"Surrender, Kudou Satou, for you have been defeated by the heroes." She said in a monotonic voice. Eyes burning with icy resolves.

Kudou Satou lifted his head up, his eyes met with Mika's heterochromatic ones. Like a fish out of water, he tried scrambling away from the scene, only to have one of his lose belts on his costume get stepped on in place as Mika brought her foot down.

Kudou had nowhere to go, Mika had already cornered him. She had the upper hand.

"Final warning, Kudou Satou." She commanded once more, her eyes still brimming with the same colors that held the memory of her being harassed.

With a big grin, Kudou Satou laughed, "Sonic gun, eh? You know that's cheating, right? You should've at least told me about it."

"Illogical." Mika chastised, "If I were to give you information of my arsenals, then I wouldn't be able to formulate a strategy against your Quirk."

"Hehe… Uh-huh." Kudou giggled, "And what's that?"

Mika blinked. "I theorized that there was no possibility of you being able to see in decelerated time, surmising that perhaps everything is moving with their acceleration decreased, even light. After I experimented with your Quirk earlier, discharging my concentrated artillery, it dawned upon me that you were able to dodge it—"

"Uh-huh."

"—Thus, I came to the conclusion of the possibility of several elements unable to be decrease of its acceleration even with your Quirk."

"Yeah, okay."

"From my data, I calculated the exact form of matter and radiation your Quirk does not take effect on." Mika ended her explanation with a rather satisfied look on her face, "And in conclusion, I generalized that only particles… only _four_ states of matter are able to be affected by your Quirk; solid, liquid, gas… as well as plasma. Light waves aren't prone to your Quirk, as well as sound waves nor any type of radiation."

"Ha! That's a pretty generalized idea," Kudou laughed in expense, tapping her foot with his hand, "where did you get that?"

"The most recognizable thing I conceived," She then lifted her foot up, before putting it down on his chest, "was the impossibility for you to _breathe_ in decelerated time."

"Agh! I give! I give!" Kudou yelled out in panic, feeling his chest slowly getting more and more weighted. "Uncle! Uncle!"

But Mika merely gave him a cold shoulder, or, in her case, a cold menacing stare. There was still the grim reminder at the back of her computer brain, and even though she was supposed to be

"There will be no 'uncle' for the likes of you."

She loomed over his pathetic squirming figure, unable to free himself from this mess. He had lost but… he didn't lose anything.

Mika had also felt something inside her chest seemingly being lifted off. Her mind was suddenly cleared of all things Kudou had done to her. She felt somewhat… joyful. Her purpose had been fulfilled. She had won as a hero. What else is there to explain.

She looked down towards Kudou and he was smiling. As someone who was a polar opposite of Kudou's unpredictable nature, she couldn't have founded himself smiling along.

With a smile their faces, they waited for the booming voice that rang throughout the artificial building.

" **BAT** **TLE TRIAL HAS ENDED."**

" **HERO TEAM WON."**

* * *

 **U.A. Building -** **09:50 a.m.**

* * *

Seiji's eyes were wider than he could ever manage.

With an empty glass in his hand, he froze. He didn't expect such outcome.

Suki was before him, wrapping her arms around his neck.

The midday sun was close to reaching its peak, marking another noon for another day for the H.R.I. Class. Sunlight broke in from the window, shining the boy that was trapped in the girl's embrace.

For the last ten months that he had been in this hellhole, he _still_ didn't expect such outcome.

"Thank you." Suki said in his ear, smiling, "Thank you for saying that."

He remembered about Jun's imminent death.

He remembered about spilling his backstory to a stranger.

None of it was as problematic as this.

And the only thing that he could say was… "Eh?"

* * *

 **Didn't even get 5 reviews last chapter...**

 **This is so sad**

 **can we hit 5... no... SIX AND A HALF REVIEWS THIS CHAPTER?**

 **.**

 **Lmao nah, I'm joking guys. All you's are my bros.**

 **Anyway, today's chapter is quicker to updtae than before. I'm pretty established about this one but I'm not sure, everything started well with Jun and Tarasu and the first part of the second Battle Trial, but... not really feeling it from there onwards... I guess I'll edit it later.**

 **Side note: nobody had wanted to PM me about writing their own one-shots or fillers. I'm not pushing, but I feel like I'm announcing it for nothing. If anyone got any stories you'd like to share, please PM me.**

 **This has been the author's note.**

 **You may proceed.**

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

 **Jun disappears from the class...**

 **So is Adachi...**

 **Kaori now has to try and get along with Suki. Will she do it? Emotions and craziness ensues!**

 **A sudden special episode?! LOOK FORWARD TO IT!**

 **.**

 **.**

 **.**

 **(Peace Sign best OP, fight me)**

 **R &R**


	13. What Would Become of Us?

**U.A Building - 09:00 a.m.**

* * *

With every passing hour, something seemed to have been missing from Seiji Orimura's mind.

He didn't know what it was, only that it was supposed to be important. The second he started to feel like he was on the edge of finding out, he was brought back to reality from his musing.

He looked at the man sitting in front of him: the washed-up looking teacher with rolls and rolls of thick scarf wrapping half his face down. Seiji could feel the piercing glare from the taller man reaching to his inner core, shaking whatever left of his already shredded courage.

On his arms was a stack of books—notebooks to be precise, multicolored and in different patterns and sizes—and he had been carrying them from half an hour ago.

There was supposedly a writing exercise for the whole hero courses, tasked by the man in the scarf himself. That was why Seiji was standing here in front of another hero course class, waiting for the _other_ class president to finally collect his or her class's notebook.

Beside him was already a girl of a rather tall height, competing with Seiji himself. There was probably a reason why he had the problem of thinking straight right then, and perhaps it was because he was standing next to someone as beautiful as her.

Seiji could not recall her name, but boy; was she a sight to look at. Not only was she mature, shown by the fact that she had tackled all the needs to appear as reliable as a class representative, she was also talented enough to hit herself a hero course.

Well, to Seiji at least it was quite the plausible feat; or perhaps it was his hormones.

Whatever it was, it's distracting him. He needed to remember that he had something he needed to take care of… or something he needed to remember, whichever one of those two.

The girl beside him pulled back her orange locks of hair and put them behind her ear, waiting for the third and final class president to show up sometime. Seiji also had a little inconvenience on his feet when he thought about standing at the hallway waiting for class 1-A's representative.

Just then, as if he was speaking of the devil, the door that he stood so close to suddenly slides open, revealing a taller boy wearing glasses.

"You're ten minutes late," Aizawa scoffed under his scarf.

"Apologies for the delay, Aizawa-sensei!" Said the boy in a robotic tone, swatting his hands in a speedy manner, "If we can, we should hurry, sir!"

Aizawa harrumphed, scanning his eyes to the pile of books the boy in glasses was carrying, then continuing to the rest of the three, "Right, you three follow me to the teacher's room."

And followed him they did.

With every passing time going by more and more, Seiji had the knot in his stomach and he tried to hold himself from feeling anxious. There was a lot going on, sure, but that shouldn't limit him from what he was supposed to do. He was so used to being alone in a different world, he couldn't bare even doing this sort of thing.

They all stopped by a sliding door after a three-minute walk through the gigantic hallways of U.A. Aizawa had the look of apathy when the three gathered together with him. The washed-up looking teacher finally gave the exhausted sigh that he had been holding in for so long.

The three merely exchanged glances between each other, not-knowing of what to do at the sight of their teacher slowly showing more and more of a hunch every second.

"By this door, my desk is right next to it," Aizawa told them with a seething voice, "Try not to look too long at what's inside, or you'll regret ever having me try to warn you."

With a gulp, Seiji braced himself inside the air-conditioned room. With a quick jog, he and the three other class representatives quickly placed their stacks of notebooks on Aizawa's respective desk. In just a blink of an eye, they all hurriedly walked out of the teacher's room.

Aizawa almost seemed impressed, until it disappeared when he seemed to have been automatically called into the teacher's room, "Great job, you gave me more time to rest, good on you. Go back to your classes, your next lesson should start at any minute now."

With that, he shut the door behind him.

An ice growing between the three class representatives, until the girl decided to break, "Well, I think we should heed his words, right?"

"Quite so, Miss Kendo," The boy with the glasses nodded in a rather quickened way, walking along with them through the hallway, "Let's go back to our respective classes… erm…"

Then, Seiji realized just who he was talking to, "O-oh! Sorry, I haven't introduced myself. I'm Orimura Seiji, you can call me Seiji if you'd like."

"My apologies for not getting more familiar with you, Seiji Orimura," The boy with the glasses told him with a slight bow.

In an instant, Seiji almost panicked, "No, no! It's okay. You all have your classmates too, right?"

"20 of them," the orange haired girl said, "Right, Iida?"

"Of course!" The boy named Iida suddenly said in realization, perhaps because of the unfamiliarity that was etched across his face, "I, too, haven't introduced myself!" With a small smile, the boy in glasses lend out his hand, "Greetings, my name is Tenya Iida from Class 1-A."

"Right," Seiji hastily took his hand and shook it awkwardly, it's been a while since he had a formal introduction, "Really nice to meet you, Iida."

"What? Not much for the pleasantries?"

"Oh, no," Seiji wished he was, "I just have a lot in my mind right now. You'd probably wouldn't understand. I mean, we're basically worlds apart even as class reps, right?"

"Well, Iida here isn't the class president until just last week," The orange-haired giggled, "And how could you say that? Did you even know my name?"

With a slowly rising redness in his cheek, he sputtered, "Well, I've seen you before, so I really don't need the pleasantries… er…"

"See?" The girl grinned at him, "It's Kendo, Itsuka Kendo. And, oh yeah, sorry for my classmate back then, he seemed like he was harassing yours."

"Ah, no," Seiji told her, "It's okay, honest. Though, I'm glad you were there. Sorry, my friends could get a little rough too, sometimes."

"It's no trouble, Seiji," Tenya said as they turned to a corner, "I also know someone of the same suite. It is our responsibilities as class representatives to ensure that all our classes are fit to become heroes, no matter the kind of classmates we have."

"Yeah… heroes…" Seiji unknowingly muttered under his breath, almost sounding like he was disappointed.

Itsuka Kendo noticed this, her smile fell, "Is there something wrong?"

"No, nothing," Seiji waved her off, "It's just… well, this program."

Tenya seemed to be looking at him in apparent worry, "I understand completely, Seiji. I can't imagine what the pressure is like for you and your classmates to be heroes. But trust me, it is merely only destiny for us to be here. We will help you through and through."

"No, it's not that," Seiji sighed, scratching the back of his head in sudden nervousness, "I just… I can't become the same reliable heroic class rep like you guys… is what I think."

"Is that so wrong?" Itsuka Kendo asked him.

"Well," according to the shit that he and his class had been through, he'd like to say yes. But he couldn't say that to her, "I think it's because I can't seem to get along with my class at all. I mean, have you seen us? We're the guys who you all should've probably walked away from."

"Though, you still have that heroic dream, right?"

"Yeah, I guess," He unknowingly scoffed to himself.

There was a pregnant silence when Itsuka never left her gaze from him, before saying; "We're kids," Itsuka told him. It was gentle and subtle, but somehow Seiji understood, "every kid deserves a second chance, even you. The three of us are all fighting in the same ring now."

"I know that," Seiji told her, "Well, I mean, that's what I'm worried about right now."

"Do you think you have the chance?" Itsuka asked him.

When Seiji looked back at her, he saw her eyes and expression completely in lack of emotions. He didn't know what to think, almost as if feeling she was interrogating him. But honestly, he doubted that the Representative of Class 1-B would be like that. There must be some kind of reason behind her question.

"Why do you ask?" He asked back.

Then, the orange-haired girl tapped her chin, "It was you who completely annihilated Ground Beta, wasn't it?"

"Well… not _completely_ annihilated—"

"I think that's pretty cool."

"Eh?" It was the same rush of emotions to his brain like the one he felt when he was unknowingly hugged by his classmate. As he stared into Itsuka's face, he didn't realize that she was smiling at him with half-lidded eyes. Without any sense of direction in his train of thoughts, he blurted out, "W-well, I guess i-it was pretty cool… I guess…"

"Not a lot of people can do that, right?" Itsuka giggled again.

"Of course!" Seiji laughed back awkwardly.

"Doesn't that make you look like a really cool hero?"

Really cool hero? Saving people with one punch? Respected by all? "Well it would make me seem like one, wouldn't it? I guess, you're ri—"

"Don't get too ahead of yourself."

Nothing could prepare himself for the coldness in her voice. It was bemusing, to say the least, when he realized what he just did in front of her: he just _bragged_. He didn't know what came over him, but he got the idea that Itsuka didn't like it.

When he looked at her the second time, he wasn't looking at the same friendly-ish girl. It was almost insane how she looked so… stern.

"You do realize you have as much chance as us, don't you?" Itsuka asked.

Without knowing what he had to do, he sputtered, "R-right… sorry…"

"Can I ask you something?" She asked again

"Uh, ah, o-ok?"

"Who do you think you're fighting against?" She said, lifting her chin, "Because it seems to me that you're fighting against your own back then at the Battle Trial."

" _She knew?"_ Seiji mused inside his head.

"I don't think you're taking this seriously."

"But I am!"

Seiji knew that it was an unnecessary burst, and he had no reason to deny it.

Itsuka merely sighed, it seemed like she had gotten her point through, "Until you realize that you can't work this out on your own, I won't be of any help. You're a representative of your class, and I am of mine. Let's not make whatever feud you have with your class to be spread upon others. I don't want it to change what we have but if I can't become what's best to portray my class then I hope you understand that, if we cross path once more, it wouldn't be you and I anymore."

He trailed off, leaving both Itsuka and Tenya staring at each other in quite the unknowing manner.

Seiji pocketed both his hands, feeling quite unsure of what to do at a situation like that. He started hanging his head, awkwardly side-stepping as the three of them stopped by the middle of the hallway; their silhouettes etching the giant walls from the morning sunlight through the windows.

He felt a little too over his head after thinking about it for a second. Something felt wrong for him to be here, whether it was because he knew for certain that he was or it was just his social anxiety.

A silence, then, through the unbearable awkwardness, Seiji looked ahead; "I think need to go now, thanks."

He stepped forward, pausing a bit, before continuing his pace. There was still a bit of him who felt like he needed to at least apologize for wasting their time. God knows he had no place between them. But in all honesty, he was actually glad he could have a chat. After the whole ordeal with the Battle Trial, he was relieved that someone outside his circle could give their opinion.

Then again, he shouldn't feel too glad to be there. Regardless, he was an outcast in the school. He was doing things that people wanted him to, and in exchange he would be free of his past life, but who could tell that it would cost him so much energy?

He felt sick. He remembered what had happened six years ago. He wanted to barf.

"I'll be rooting for you,"

With a stopped heart, he looked back, and saw that Itsuka was staring straightforwardly at him with a small genuine smile. Seiji wanted to ask her why, but his head was already glitching from realizing his situation.

He looked at Tenya, and he too was staring intently at him.

"I hope we can become great rivals, Orimura," Itsuka spoke to him, the smile never leaving yet her eyes seemed slowly burning ambers, "We might not have the same goal in mind, but I can tell that you are a person of strong will. I wish for the day where we can have a fair match together."

This feeling he felt when he looked at the both of them… he finally noticed it. It was the same unwavering stare he had felt with Jun Hamada; a look of challenge. Hate didn't quite fit in, but there was something Itsuka Kendou clearly disliked about him.

Seiji didn't want to find out, and he hoped that he never would.

Both Itsuka and Tenya parted together, and Seiji was left alone in front of the hallway without any idea of what to make of his fate.

He sucked in his teeth and sighed, then he made his way to the class.

Expecting a greeting from Adachi, or, if not, then explosions all over the room, he slid the door open and went inside without raising his head. Alas, he didn't expect the stranger in the class.

The H.R.I. Class was quiet, and it was very rare of them to do so. When Seiji realized the reason why, he was frozen in place: there was a man standing just in front of the class, but it wasn't Adachi or any of the adult he knew.

The man seemed ape-ish, with golden locks and hair covering his body under the black formalwear he sported. Hard, square jaw decorated with golden curly bangs, a pair fangs protruding from the lower jaw and a flat nose between his sunken eyes. Two large shoes, irregular for a human. All of that, and a golden tail streak protruding out of his pants.

He tried glancing at his classmates, and they're all just staring blankly at him.

The Ape-man stared daggers at him, which made him rooted to the ground, before splitting his mouth into a grin, "You're just in time for my introduction!"

"Ah," was the only thing Seiji could say, "Who—"

"I take it that you're Orimura?" The Ape-man cut him off, "Your vice president… uh, the Wolf-Girl… told me we were missing you. Well then, go ahead and sit down!"

The Ape-man pounded his fist onto the top of his heart.

"Greetings, I am your new homeroom teacher; the Chinese Number 1 Hero, Sun Wukong!"

* * *

 **U.A. Cafeteria - 12:15 p.m**

* * *

It was lunchtime and, as always, it was as crowded as U.A. had ever been. However, there was something flying around in the air today, and everyone with the exception of the H.R.I Class had been noticing lately.

Out of the usual scrambling of students, divided by social groups including the upperclassmen, the educational classes, the clubs, and many others, Miyu seemed to be more discomposed as of late. Of course, she noticed this, being the only one out of the Delinquents Class (apart from Seiji) to have the thought process of an average upstanding citizen. Well, not that she thought that highly of herself, but after living under the roof of her dorm with an anger-issued homicidal shrimp, a hazardous voodoo klutz, a literal straightjacket, and a muscle-brained beefcake, she found it a necessity to have a common sense.

And her common sense said that she had been thinking too much about one particular thing that happened earlier.

Back to the cafeteria, as she was walking through the hordes of fellow yet-to-be heroes, she decided that she'd start eating together with her classmates. Usually, she always decided to eat by herself, thinking that it was too much trouble to fit herself into a certain group—and no, she did not _fear_ socializing with them. In fact, she had found a common ground with a few of them. It's just not her style to be socializing like all the teenagers her age—but now she thought that she'd give it a chance (and perhaps find out why she had been having a lot of thoughts lately).

In between the loud chatters, she could make out some talks about an attack at the school. Intrigued, she seemed to have slowed down her steps to listen closely to the students of the General Education's table.

"—should've put more security to the school, I mean," said a particular boy, "What if things like that happen again? There isn't going to be a warning quick enough."

"Bet the school can't pay for more security guards, though," His friend chortled, "They're too busy paying the damages that the Delinquents Class made!"

"Rubbish," another one clicked his tongue, "If they let scoundrels apply in this school, what makes you think that the chances of them even caring for their students are above zero?"

The entire table guffawed, "Very true, Shinsou!"

Miyu felt her presence slowly being noticed, and so she decided to walk away not a second later; she didn't want to be a seen as an eavesdropper, even less than she wanted to be seen as some kind of a heretic to their school just for standing close to them.

So, the events that occurred lately had been flying around the school now, huh? Miyu shouldn't be surprised, they were low-level thugs in a fully functioning hero school, but here she was.

Other than that, she never found gossips and little chatters to any of her concerns. Granted, she's used to being talked around, but now that she was partly responsible to the actions of her class, she realized that there was a gap in difference between her usual "Hey, that Yakushi girl is a total delinquent, y'know" and the newer "I feel threatened being in the same room as them, why isn't the school doing anything?"

She forgot that she was carrying a food tray with contents on top of it, so she needed to focus on not spilling it in the cafeteria; that and watching out for a certain Class 1-B student to make sure he was not harassing one of her classmates anymore.

She noticed her classmate's table on the edge of the cafeteria, secluded from the other classes. It did seem like the rest of the school was avoiding her class altogether, and that somewhat made her uncomfortable approaching them; yet she decided to approach them anyway.

Sitting down at the table, she comforted herself between Mori Kururugi and Kaori Tsukinose. The two were already eating their special cafeteria lunch set: spaghetti Bolognese and meatballs and a cup of melted cheese. Miyu had the same meal, and she couldn't wait but to take a bite. She looked back at Mori beside her who, despite her eating, her portion seemed untouched with the exception of the carbonara sauce. The wolf girl had a rather disappointed look on her face.

Noticing this, Miyu cleared her throat, "Good afternoon."

Mori's ears perked up and she smiled brightly and the girl beside her, "Good afternoon, Yakushi!" For a second, Mori seemed like she was joyful to see that Miyu decided to sit beside her, but it was only because the wolf girl saw the portion of her food, "Mind if I trade your Bolognese for the rest of my pasta?"

" _Wonder if she'll die of meat deficiency if I don't give it to her…"_ Miyu thought to herself with an exasperated expression.

Something then tapped her shoulder, "It's nice to see you with us, Yakushi," Kaori Tsukinose said to her.

"And I you, Tsukinose," To be honest, this had been the longest introductory she had with other people. Funny to think that she had been living with them for a few weeks now.

Now that she was there, she felt like that the gossips and rumors that she heard during when she passed the cafeteria worth less than what she was experiencing right now: a decent lunch with friends. She realized something now; so, this was how she had felt when she, Oboro, Mori, and Yato gathered there at the end of her battle training. This queasy feeling of comfort and discomfort mixed between awkwardness and relief.

She let out a small giggle out her lipless mouth, in which Kaori noticed it. "What is it?" she asked Miyu.

"Nothing," She waved her spoon, feeling like it was the first time she had gotten embarrassed over something like giggling, "I was just thinking…"

"Oh?" Kaori titled her head, "Penny for your thoughts?"

Miyu tapped her chin, "It'd be such a waste to not see Adachi on his last day, huh?"

Mori had this look that said "So that's what you've been thinking?" which was followed by "Why not throw a party for him?"

"I doubt he'll like us wasting money on him," Kaori chastised, "He even scolded me for trying to help him with his papers that one time, telling me that I should be worrying about my homework when there's so much."

She felt so close to knowing that had troubled her lately, until someone from the same table but sitting afar from her decided to speak in.

"What're you guys talking about?" Yato Shimura said aloud, chewing on his pasta.

"Oh, we were just thinking about what we should do when Adachi decides to leave," Mori answered him, her ears suddenly seemed crestfallen.

"Hey, come on now," Kaori said to her in a gruff tone, "We don't know if he's leaving just yet."

"The Golden Monkey guy said otherwise," this time, it was Date Takehiro who spoke, chewing on a cheek-full of cashew nuts, "Someone's taking his place, see."

"And what's worse, we don't know for sure what was his position before," Oboro Kirikagure said in agreement, intertwining his fingers with a flat expression on his darkened face, "For all we know, 'homeroom teacher' could be just a ruse, and he's just a government agent working as a caretaker for the H.R.I. Program."

They all exchanged glances, unable to express exactly how they were feeling.

"Look at it this way," Oboro told everyone, "Ever since the H.R.I. Program was made, not one of us were allowed to leave without supervision, right? Our student's cards are rigged with tracking devices or so I've heard. Not only that, they aren't allowing the press, even the students, to have us all public. When we were first approached by him, we had to sign a contract to join. I mean, don't you think Adachi's playing a double-agent here? Sure, he had been in U.A.'s side for as long as we remember but, before that, what was his goal in trying to use us?"

Then, he was cut off by a sudden "Shut up…"

They all looked at the source of the voice, and were all surprised to see Seiji Orimura to be snapping at his own classmates.

"Just… stop, okay?" He said to Oboro, his hands clasped together as he hanged his head behind them, "We're all worried. We're worried that Adachi's leaving. We're scared of what would happen to us if we get dispersed. Oboro, please, just for a second I need to think."

Oboro merely stared at him with blank eyes, before immediately slumping back to his seat, "Well, sorry, I was merely addressing the situation."

The thoughts on Miyu Yakushi's mind was answered: she was worried as well. Deathly worried.

Miyu had a second to muse to herself; to think that she had been thinking about school all this time made her realize just how much she had changed from long before she came here. It's funny, even to her, to see herself being worried of one teacher's departure. She really respected that man after what little conversation they had that night at the gate of the school; for someone who spoke and looked just your regular facial-mask wearing yankee _Sukeban_ , she didn't expect Adachi to cared that much about her.

Whatever happened, it had touched her. So that was what had been on her mind lately; seeing him getting so nervous watching the fight with Jun Hamada and Tarasu Kobayashi made her somehow started sharing the worry of his sudden leave.

They all saw what happened with Jun, and Miyu hated to think about it. Honestly, she couldn't compare her own loss to what Adachi had felt watching two of his children ripping each other's throats apart. It would be logical that Adachi was sick of them all.

Perhaps that was why the atmosphere today was so heavy; because everyone refused to believe that fact.

Knowing Adachi, it was unlike him to just leave. After all he had done, why would he do such a thing?

Oboro had a reason to be skeptical, and Miyu understood. None of them knew who the real Adachi was, and it was a possibility that, despite his looks, Hisaki Adachi could be just a ruse to ensure that the H.R.I. Program went well.

Then, seeing Seiji Orimura like that, Miyu had to think twice: if Adachi was a double-agent all along, he was a damn good double-agent that had successfully made them all feel attached to him.

A pregnant pause, before Kaori decided to speak up, "Seiji, I'm sorry."

Seiji also perked up, "For what?"

"I didn't think that it would come to this," she said with a rather distant expression, "I know the burden that you feel for us, and it's my fault for being selfish and discarding it from my thoughts."

"You okay?" Yato also joined in, leaning towards Seiji with a simplified expression of concern.

Seiji took in a deep breath, sitting upwards, "Yeah… yeah, I'm fine. There are more important matters at hand."

"Hey, don't let it get to you."

With a nod, Seiji replied, "I won't. Besides, I still have a responsibility as your class rep."

Everyone felt the atmosphere lightening up a bit, before Seiji decided to speak again.

"There's been this problem between Jun and Adachi," He told them, "and… I think there's some correlation to be found here. I was afraid to tell you because… well… I don't know what to do."

"Isn't the answer simple already?" Oboro said aloud once more, "With Adachi gone, doesn't that mean the rule will bend as well? Now, let's say that Hamada _did_ have relationship with Adachi, then wouldn't it be logical that if one left the other would follow?"

There was an intense beat echoing through the table.

"How can you say that?!" Miyu cut him off in disbelief, "Adachi cares about us as much as he cares for Jun!"

"It was bound to happen anyway!" Oboro's outburst surprised everyone. He raised up his hands as if pointing them the obvious facts, "Tsukinose, if it wasn't for Orimura then you would be hurt as much as Kobayashi was that day!"

"That's not—!" Kaori stopped, unable to deny him.

"And what about you, Seiji," Oboro turned to him, in which Seiji responded with a shocked stare, "Our greatest foil is Jun Hamada, and Jun Hamada alone. You know he is, yet you can't do anything about it, even if you're the class rep because it was _never_ our call… it was Adachi's. With him gone, there's probably—no—there _will_ be some changes."

Tarasu Kobayashi who, as he sat next to her, decided to speak up as well, "What if it doesn't bend, then, Kirikagure? What if without Hamada this program can't be progressed?"

"No?" Oboro scoffed, "Then, let me ask you: if someone else were in your place that day at the Battle Trial, how much would you say that person would survive?"

Silence. Tarasu merely stared at Oboro at eye level. Everyone knew that Oboro Kirikagure is not the best at believing things at face value, but there was logic in his words.

He puffed out a ball of smoke from his mouth, "How long does it take until Jun kills someone? And how long do we have to wait until _all of us_ takes the blame?"

"As much as I'd be in favor of denying it," Mika Tatsuya finally filled her part of the perspective, "while there are obvious losses, this change would inevitably benefit us one way or another. Knowing how Sun Wukong, China's Number 1 Hero, is in alliance with the H.R.I Program, then that would only mean that the government is in play. It is said in our contract that, after instructing us to follow orders, it is never stated that the likes of one student may cause the rest to be expelled as well."

"So, what," Tarasu crossed his arms, letting out a faint shrug, "we're throwing Hamada under the bus?"

His expression hidden behind his long greasy bangs, and everyone is unable to see what he was thinking about when he said that. He seemed to be in neither the supporting side nor the offending side, but one thing was clear: their future wasn't in their hands anymore.

"… As if it ever was…" Seiji clicked his tongue in apparent anger, he clenched his fist until his knuckles whitened. He remembered the words that Itsuka Kendo said, _"It wouldn't be you and I anymore."_

Was that a challenge? No, it was a warning. Seiji was sure of it.

"Frankly," Date Takehiro bellowed, "Shouldn't we, like, not do anything? It's their biz; Adachi and Hamada, I mean."

"Yeah, but you can't pretend that they're not a part of us."

"Oh? Then, if we're on the topic, is Takara _not_ a part of us as well?" Date harrumphed. As he said this, he shot a look at Kaori Tsukinose.

He was right, none of them had seen Jun nor Suki all day. Every since the Battle Trial, it seemed like the two had been a little off with each other. Somehow, they couldn't exactly put out what was going on, yet they knew just enough to know that it had something to do with what happened with the Battle Trial.

"… He's right…" Kaori spoke up, her face darkening as if overridden by guilt, "We can't talk about this—about them—behind their backs."

"Damn right, we can't!" Date harrumphed once more, almost like a giant truck.

Yato raised his eyebrow, "Since when are you so straightforward?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," Date started in a sarcastic tone, "were _you_ almost got killed by the two of them on the same day?"

"Jeez, alright…"

"Right, that's another problem thrown into the mix," Oboro growled lowly under his breath, "Is there anything else that _anyone_ would like to say?"

A moment of silence, until someone raised their hands.

"If I could add," Mori Kururugi began, raising her hand in the air, "I remembered that several months ago, when I first met Jun, I was already thinking of quitting the program because of him. But I realized now that… he never cared about any of us."

The rest listened in, trying to understand with her.

"I… I mean, if you put it into perspective, he never even bothered to hate us, is what I'm saying…" She added, "He was the first one to strike Adachi. He didn't falter against him like we did. Adachi was always Jun's enemy. Now with Adachi leaving, then… don't you think something better would happen to Jun?"

"That's great, then," Oboro clicked his tongue, "Jun's only going to collapse whenever's Adachi's around. Now, with Adachi gone, maybe Jun can turn for the good!"

There was a light smack onto the table, and it came from the girl in raven-colored hair.

"Do you all honestly think that Hisaki Adachi would be that evil of a person?" Kaori growled at him.

"He sold us off to a stranger who, may I remind you, is also the Number 1 Hero of China," Oboro tapped his finger into the table with a darkening look on his face, "He had ties with people we don't know, and played us around like we were objects."

Mori sighed, "Let's face it, guys. We can't fight this no matter what we do."

"He took care of us!" Miyu barged in, unable to comprehend what she was hearing right now, "Mori… how can you say that!"

"I-I'm saying that it didn't went well with Jun!" Mori told her, "How can we be sure that it'll be well with the rest of us?"

"Look at what happened to Jun!" He raised his voice, "Look at what he did when he saw Jun at the brink of death! _Nothing_!"

"You're just saying that because you're afraid!" Kaori reached closer to him, her eyes burning with anger, "You're afraid that he won't treat you the same way he treated Jun!"

"Why I oughta—"

"OI, CUNTS!" Date's voice filled the air around them. The lumbering boy smashed his fist against the table, which brought several people's attention from around them, "That'll be the end of that bullcrap, you got that!?"

All of them finally quieted down. None of them had ever gotten to an argument like this before, and when they did it felt like every word that came out of their mouths began tearing them to their very core.

Oboro had to lower down his gaze, almost as if he was feeling guilty.

Kaori didn't know what else to put into the table, so she too had to shut her mouth.

Miyu Yakushi was in a bedazzlement, to say the least. How did it come to this? All she wanted was to thank Adachi for everything he had done with her friends, but now she wasn't even sure if her friends would be the same side as her again.

One side agreed that, despite Adachi's sudden leave, it was never his fault nor it was Jun's. They believed that they could still change the course of events.

While the other felt betrayed and hopeless, and they knew that they can't do anything to help Jun either.

Maybe Seiji thought differently, or maybe Kaori thought differently, however, they all inherently agreed that whatever happens would change the class altogether.

"I never concluded it to be that as a certain fact, I merely stated it to be a possibility," Mika remarked when she raised her hand, "However… if the theory that Hisaki Adachi has a relationship with Jun Hamada turns out to be a true, then it would become the worst possible outcome."

"And why's that?"

"Because there would be nothing holding Jun back in betraying us."

Then, Kudou Satou decided to make a comment, "This is so sad," he said as he let out a fake whimper, "Mika, play Despacito."

Mika Tatsuya, as she sat beside Kudou nonchalantly, started whirring, "Playing: Despacito."

"No, Mika, _don't_ play Despacito!" Seiji snapped at the both of them, "Guys, this is serious! _Betray us_?! Are you sure, Mika?!"

Mika partly nodded, "I shouldn't believe that it would be so. However, Mori Kururugi is right: Jun Hamada despises Hisaki Adachi the most. The H.R.I Program was Hisaki Adachi's idea, and, in accordance to what Mori Kururugi said, Jun Hamada's main focus and motivation in the program would be having a correlation to Hisaki Adachi. With Hisaki Adachi now in a sudden leave, wouldn't Jun Hamada also feel betrayed?"

"Seiji…" Kaori said in worry for her friend. Perhaps she knew that something must've happened to Seiji prior to this.

There was an expression no one had ever seen Seiji make before, and it was grim to see him like this. Miyu thought, something must've happened for sure. She didn't plan on wanting to know why, for now she needed to set her mind to what they'd do without Adachi.

Somehow all of this felt nostalgic. The feeling of hopelessness, betrayal, and alienation.

They could only pray that Adachi was pulling a prank on them.

.

.

.

* * *

 ***jumps out of closet***

 **REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE  
**

 **...**

 **How's it going, bros. It's ya boi, ThalioTP. Back at it again with sum ironic commentaries!**

 **So you might be wondering, "Yo, fuckwad, why dis chapter took so goddamn long?"**

 **Well lemme tell ya! Papa's got a real nice story to tell!**

 **So...**

 **It all started with a bad decision followed by a couple of other bad decisions, multiply it by procrastination, and finally you boil it down until you find yourself staring into pure crippling depression (I'm joking)**

 **In all actuality it was a really busy year, and wow did a lot of people with 'S' in their names die? Good thing my name isn't Stan, or Stefan! Following those events I've learned that:**

 **a). Just because you think you can, doesn't mean you should.**

 **b). Always think twice about what you want to do because goddamn did it bite me back in the ass.**

 **c). I should've studied more for my exams.**

 **Now, I know that you're tired of hearing my mini-rants and I'm sorry. This chapter was a product of overthinking, pressure, and guilt. I was too caught up in trying to write everyone's dialogues and overthink each tiny instances of each characters until I forgot that I shouldn't be doing too hard on myself doing this.** **OOC Itsuka Kendou didn't do anything wrong, no one in this story did anything wrong, it's just the Author again having the oopsie (for like, what, the infinitius time?). Of course, there are some things that are worth mentioning:**

 **One is that I was PLANNING to write Adachi's backstory but then someone else said "Nah Fam, grind that chapter 14. You should save that for more important moments".**

 **Then there was the special chapter starring Jun and his other OC pals which all are trademarked by ThalioTP (don't steal). However, even I thought that it was too much of a bother to write something like that in a story like this.**

 **Of course, taking out the bad decisions part and the procrastination, I am also doing a short project that is ALSO starring Jun Hamada (which we will get to later).**

 **Other than that, Christmas is around the corner and goddamn I want a vacation.**

 **It's been fun writing this, hope you'll forgive me for the lack of beta and spelling mistakes... and I'M SORRY THAT I ADDED THAT SCENE IN THE LAST CHAPTER MY GOD. Next chapter will cover it up, I PROMISE.**

 **(Edit): they were HUGGING! What is wrong with you people?**

...

 **And now... a special message...**

.

.

.

* * *

Seiji walked into the U.A. Dorms in search of Jun, in which he found the short boy in his room, alone.

Worried, Seiji went up to him, "Hey, man. Where have you been? Everyone's worried about you."

"Hmm. Oh, it's you," Jun responded with a gruff tone.

Looking back, Jun is wearing a costume in his room, but it looks somewhat different to the costume that Adachi had given him during the Battle Trial. This one seemed simpler and without all the spikes and unnecessary decorations. This time, his costume was just a mask and grey jacket.

"What's with the mask?" Seiji pointed out to Jun's face, "Looks like something out of an Ultraman or Power Ranger series."

"Oh, this?" Jun said, pointing to his mask, before chuckling, "Well, Orimura, I think it's safe to say that I'm needed somewhere else."

"Uhh, what?" Seiji raised his eyebrow, "Are you saying you're a Pro Hero now?"

"Even fucking better!" and with that, Jun pulled out his smartphone from underneath his pocket, "I now have an Official Webtoon Series of my own! Starring the best fucking hero in the world: ME!"

The screen turned up, and the title is shown:

 **PASTIME HEROES by ThalioThePro**

The cover of the Webtoon showed Jun in his mask, with his brunette hair getting caught in the wind full of ashes and fire sparks.

Seiji observed the contents of his phone with awe, "Wow! Is this you? Cool!"

"And not only that, Seiji my boy, oh no!" Jun said pompously, hiding his grin under his mask, "As you have known, the Fanfiction author ThalioTP has created several OCs in his lifetime! This Webtoon is a homage to all the characters he made so far!"

"That's amazing! So does that mean you'll meet with other characters from other SYOC series?"

"Fuck. Yes!" Jun laughed heartily, before turning to the camera, "So remember readers, if you come across these SYOC series' below, make sure to look out for ThalioTP's characters because they will star exclusively in that story!"

Just as Jun finished talking, Seiji then asked him.

"So, how often do the Author updates?"

"..."

"Uhh, Jun?"

"..."

"Jun, hey."

"..."

"Is something-"

"DON'T FORGET TO LIKE AND SUBSCRIBE, READERS!"

"Wha-"

"BE SURE TO COMMENT YOUR THOUGHTS, AND WE'LL BE SEEING YOU NEXT CHAPTER!"

"But-"

"NEXT. CHAPTER."

 **.**

 **PASTIME HEROES AVAILABLE ON _WEBTOON DISCOVER_ , NOW!**

 **STARRING THE CHARACTERS FROM:**

 **- MY HERO ACADEMIA : DELINQUENTS CLASS by ThalioTP**

 **- KNOWN DIFFERENCES by KnuckledustingQUEEN**

 **- AD ASTRA! by Jackdaw-Fanfiction**

 **- ALL IN : A FLAME IN THE DARK** **by PeachSkies**

 **-** **GUILTY ACT** **by Painx65**

 **- MY HERO ACADEMIA : MANIFEST DESTINY by 20d20Damage**

 **- MY HERO ACADEMIA : OUR STEPS(REBOOT) by Egotistical Casual**

 **- MY HERO ACADEMIA : GREAT WHITE NORTH by The Impostor**

 **Warning: the following stories may or not may not have featured the characters by ThalioTP. This is a way to advertise both the SYOC and the Webtoon that his characters are starred in. The author is not sorry.**


	14. A Disastrous SAR Simulation

**Ground Beta - 09:30 a.m.**

* * *

The sun was burning bright on the playground; or to be more specific, a giant playground that stretched for over two or so miles.

Two types of people stood there under the violent rays of light, in the middle of summer, with each one having different set of expressions written all over their faces; one group which contrarily only had one person was highly enthusiastic as he boasted greatly upon his audience with absolute glee and confidence, but the other group people which had quite the number when compared to the first one and a desolate expression of pain and sorrow transcribed purely into the atmosphere around them.

"And so, folks, that is why today we are going to practice a rescue operation!"

It took Sunny Wukong, or the man who is known to be the Chinese Number 1 Hero, a full 30 minutes to finally came to a stop on his speech about true heroism and the essence of a hero.

He followed up again with a confident "Any questions?"

The H.R.I. Class—as they all had put on their hero costumes—had no idea what to comment, mainly because none of them were deemed heroic in the first place; Seiji Orimura was an everyman who disliked playing the lawful good role, Kaori Tsukinose was never taught the basics of heroism so she was out of the question, Oboro Kirikagure was a street urchin, Tarasu Kobayashi was a literal mercenary, Date Takehiro was a delinquent at a very young age, Miyu Yakushi was the same but for a different reason, Kudou Satou took all of his lifetime in a psychiatric ward rather than a proper heroic education, Yato Shimura decided that modern heroism is not worth listening to, Mori Kururugi threw away her heroism for something she thought worth much more, Mika Tatsuya always had a difficulty understanding the idea of "heroes", Suki Takara on the contrary was taught the opposite of heroism, and Jun… well… we'll get to that later.

Of course, with Sun Wukong being a Pro Hero himself, none of the students listening—which were all desperate to get out of earshot and hide their little fragile brains from the boredom that he drilled onto their head, mind you—can retort or even give their opinions. So alternatively, they stayed silent.

Noticing this, Sunny brushed it off and decided that they understood well enough, "Now, I know that you all might have doubts about being a hero, and I understand; being from a bad position and all that. However, that is the point of the Heroics Reformation Program and U.A.! To ensure you all get proper lessons from _very_ experienced and _very_ passionate people! Make your knees all weak! Make your body tremble in pure ecstasy from the _long_ and _hard_ —"

He trailed off, there was silence.

"… That came out wrong."

It was time for the students to leave. They had seen everything.

The helper robots gathered around them as they all prepared the students for their next training in Ground Beta.

Today's occasion was a practice in a search and rescue; an important subject in heroism it would seem. Of course, it was not mystery that a hero has to be a professional in every field, whether that was in handling natural disasters or simple armed robberies. Sometimes, these incidents may involve risks in injuries to an innocent party or even losing a valuable life. As a hero, that is something that you'd want to avoid at all costs. So, heroes had to pass down the knowledge of saving another's life in their field of work. There are many instances of what that 'danger' is and who or how many the casualties are, however Ground Beta did not support that much open field nor the customizations of environments that followed it, so the teacher in charge put a plan upon how the children will study the basics of rescuing with the materials and environment available.

"And since Mr. Aizawa is currently busy with his class on a field trip to the USJ, _I_ am in charge of today's lessons!" Sunny Wukong boasted, throwing a thumb over to his grinning face, "An original idea of my own! _Totally_ not copy-pasting arcs!"

The students obviously couldn't stand him laughing in the background anymore, so they dispersed into their respective groups to avoid hearing him.

"USJ?" Mori Kururugi asked aloud as she joined her team of four, "Why is Aizawa taking his class to a theme park?"

"No, not _that_ USJ," Yato, who was also in her group, told her, "The Unforeseen Simulation Joint is a place to practice search and rescue for heroes."

"Another weird name?" Mori groaned distastefully, "I don't have to write it down, do I?"

Yato scratched the back of his head, "Hrm… I think you'll be fine," then, he threw his finger towards their other team member, "Takehiro here never remembers everything, but he's a bull anyway, he'll just do everything the teachers tell him to do.

The lumbering boy merely gave the shorter male a fanged grin, "You know what I think?" then, he proceeded to smack the back of Yato's head with the palm of his hand.

The smack seemed loud enough to be heard by each of the three. Yato merely rubbed the back of his head and gave Date a small sharp look, "Right, I forgot you were just a _steam-engine train_."

"Why you—" Date's eye twitched, "Say that again, silver-snotted thermometer-insides!"

"What does that even mean?"

Unfortunately for another student called Seiji Orimura, he had to listen in to these two bickering behind them as he tried his best to lead them to the battlefield. The boy had a lot on his mind, and he didn't need any more distractions.

"Guys," He snapped his head back, stopping the two from going anywhere further than their Sumo poses, "can we just… focus on the lesson, first?"

Well, Mori could understand why he was acting much gloomier than usual. It had been a very nerve-wracking day for everyone in the H.R.I. Class, knowing—or rather, not knowing—what their future would be.

Jun Hamada was here today, too. Too Mori, it didn't matter as much as she wanted herself to, but she could not speak for the rest of the class. She herself knew how important Jun was to the program.

She decided not to think too much into it and followed Seiji and the rest of her team to their designated areas.

Meanwhile, as the students had all disappeared from the first area, one group somehow still remained halfway through their path. Near what seemed to be a descent, looking straight onto oblivion, a girl stood still at the edge of it.

She remembered the destruction that happened that day, which was still mirrored onto the view that she was staring into.

The abandoned mall, the parking area, and whatever left of them… Suki Takara remembered all of it.

.

.

.

" _STUPID! STUPID! STUPID! STUPID!"_

 _It was the middle of the afternoon, but the atmosphere had exploded already._

" _AAAAH! FUCK!"_

 _With a kick of her foot, the debris from the eruption of the mall flew away before thudding back onto the ground. Suki Takara stared at her trembling hands in hope of finding a miracle—or a big red button to restart the world—knowing that she had nothing, absolutely nothing, that she could do._

 _Ever since she was small, she was caged, she could always hear the cluttering of iron chains, and now, just when she thought she had been freed, she realized that something had been holding herself back._

 _She bit her bottom lip in anger, scrunching her teary eyes as if trying to suck them back into her sockets. Tightening her grip, she let out a cry._

" _AAAAAH!"_

 _It was surreal; her top hat discarded between the heap of dust and debris, her vest sitting in the same fashion, just like her dignity. There was no point, no point at all, in trying to be someone she's not. Weeks and weeks of planning, carefully modelling and remodeling her costume, only to find out she wasn't even fit to put it on. She shouldn't have agreed to the program, such stupid decision._

 _Everyone hated her, she knew that. She thought that she could run away and pretend that nothing's wrong. She tried to putting herself up on a pedestal, not realizing that she had been the one who had been continuously sinking down to unimaginable depths. This battle trial confirmed it._

 _Maybe, she did realize it; maybe that's why she hated Kaori Tsukinose so much: because the image of her in Suki Takara's mind was everything she couldn't hope to be. Maybe that was why it felt so good torturing her, because from Suki's perspective she was trying to destroy the fact that she couldn't become someone as close as Tsukinose._

 _She could feel her legs getting tired, until she found herself squatting on the dusty aftermath of Ground Beta, burying her face by her legs. Her nails clutching her knees, she could feel her ever hammering heartbeat pounding against her chest._

 _Ah, how she wanted to die._

 _So pathetic, being free from the chains of her father just to realize that she had been caging herself with stupid delusions. She wasn't a hero, she knew that she just tried to kill Tsukinose a few minutes earlier._

 _There was no hope for her, she was going to be expelled and no one would bat an eye._

"You're a villain," _her father's words lingered,_ "You're NOTHING but a villain."

 _The grip on her knees tightened as she was trying with all her might to hold back her spilling tears. It was gut-wrenching, but she knew he was right. She WAS a villain…_

"Let's become heroes together!"

 _She pulled her head up, almost feeling like she had shocked herself, "Ah!"_

 _That voice was Orimura's, wasn't it? Why was she thinking about him now? It must've been an afterthought. She had heard that a traumatic event could may cause delusions. So, was that it? Was she starting to build up PTSD? Well it didn't matter, anyway. She wasn't planning on living any longer after all._

 _There was a moment of silent on the Beta Ground, from the ruins of the mall, watching the robots trying to pick up the pieces while screaming at each other in some sort of robotic yelling._

 _The wind got caught in her messy bangs, it was calling from the edge of the world. A distant ringing in her ear signaling how empty the world really is. Just like her._

 _A sudden presence infiltrated her personal space, as if there was a sudden disturbance. She looked behind her, and saw the broad cladded in skintight armor, her raven black hair flying between the steadiness of the oncoming wind._

 _Kaori Tsukinose stared blankly at Suki, almost as if her presence was nonexistent to her. That, or she was just refusing to acknowledge her. The both of them broke eye contact as soon as they started it._

 _Then, a robot came beside Kaori, "You can wait here with your friend, Miss," It said in a monotonic matter-of-fact, before adding a blunt remark, "Try not to kill each other, please."_

 _In an instant, the atmosphere felt quite cramped._

 _As soon as the robots dispersed to continue cleaning up the area from all the excess debris, the two of them could immediately feel the tension in between. However, to Suki, it wasn't just the fact that the two wasn't on the best terms several minutes ago which makes their current relationship to have little to no tolerance, now she had to face the fact that the overwhelming guilt that was building in her heart was piling up her train of thoughts._

 _Perhaps, it was instinct, a form of self-defense in trying to hide her weakness, but she immediately burst out at Kaori—as Kaori herself was standing, not only five feet from her, and not doing any harm to anyone—in a manner where she almost had to hold the croak in her throat back._

" _Can't you just stand further away?" Suki hissed lowly under the impression that she was insulted. To be honest, Suki didn't know what to think. She wiped her eyes off of any signs of faint glimmer._

 _Kaori said nothing, but there was an essence in her darkened expression which seemingly mimicked Suki's loathing._

" _God knows we had too much of you existing to go around. Good job handling your teamwork, by the way. Let me guess, did you also tried to slave Hamada to do what you want?!" Suki seethed through her teeth. Her words sting yet the voice in her heart wished nothing more than Kaori to leave her alone, "I fucking had it, already. I fucking hate you. Why the hell do you exist? Aren't you supposed to be some big-wig's daughter?! Why are you even—"_

" _STOP IT!" Kaori shouted at her, her face reddening in fury, "ENOUGH ABOUT MY FAMILY!"_

 _Suki scrunched her face, "So what, Tsukinose?! You're nothing but a pushover, just because you think you're better than others!"_

 _Then, Kaori shouted back, "What about you, huh?! Lucky aren't you, out of every possible pick of children abused, you won the lottery! Congratulations!"_

 _That was the final limit of what Suki could bear to hear, "Really rich coming out of the mouth of a BASTARD! YOU BASTARD!"_

 _A flash of light, a tear-stricken face, and a blade that gleamed under the sunlight as it slowly reached for the next of the latter. It almost seemed like time had slowed down for Suki Takara to see a small bright metallic hue of a dagger reaching for her trachea._

 _In Kaori's eyes were fury, an intent to hurt—to kill._

 _But at that split-second moment, her eye gleamed a bright purple shine instinctively. It wasn't out of apparent anger which fueled her action, rather it was a small spark of fear that exploded into something similar to a fight-or-flight situation. Of course, Kaori mirrored this emotion, as a wave of false fear and alert infected her brain._

 _With another flash, just as Suki Takara jumped away from her spot, Kaori retreated after realizing that her opponent's Quirk was taking effect._

 _The two were in a distance, now. Both panting from the fright that mirrored each other's expressions._

 _However, Suki was trembling more than she needed to. She didn't know why she had done that, but a part of her understood why it was justified—or at least, she WANTED it to feel like her actions were justified._

 _The record kept spinning, over and over again telling her that it was not her fault. Yet, she knew that she was just trying to hide her true feelings._

"I just want to die…" _She muttered inside her head,_ "Make it stop. I don't want to fight anymore. Tsukinose, please, make it stop…"

 _She expected Kaori to strike her again—she wished Kaori did, never had she ever wanted to feel this much guilt and confusion inside her mind. It was as if her emotions fought against each other, each trying to justify the other;_

"I didn't do anything wrong!" _and_ "You did everything wrong!" _echoed._

 _Suki at least wanted Kaori to understand, but she knew that that moment would never come. All she wanted from the girl was just to end her and make their situation even; to make whatever conflict she was feeling to stop._

 _That was until she was surprised when she made eye contact with Kaori._

 _The other girl was panting, however that was not all that she did; in fact, Suki was confused why she had made that kind of expression that she had, almost like a mixture of guilt and realization as she grasped her dagger holding hand by the wrist, trying to stop it from moving._

 _In the distance, a robot was wailing in agony, "Great job… Not to think that I_ just _told you to not kill each other…"_

 _Suki said nothing, she stared onto oblivion, her head filling with more and more questions._

" _Fuck it… that's ENOUGH from yous!" a voice said aloud, a couple of footsteps coming closer to them._

 _At first, she thought it was Adachi, she had enough from being scolded by him. But it was not…_

 _Date Takehiro seemed to have seen better days; his costume was covered in dust and burn marks, especially his boots which seemed to have blackened completely from heat. The gauntlets on his arms creaked and cried as he stretched his beefy arms._

 _He caught sight of Suki and his eyes started to look quite somber, "Really?! Really, we JUST survived damnation and_ this _is what you do?!"_

 _His crass attitude immediately made Suki to pay no attention to the lumbering boy, he'll probably just make another comment about her breasts. She didn't care, she didn't want to care. Nothing mattered to her at the moment._

 _But when he turned to Kaori too, it was then she realized he probably wasn't playing around, "And YOU! Wasn't it bad enough that you had a fight with her ONCE?!"_

 _When Kaori threw away her face, Suki could see the gleam of reflection, "… Sorry."_

 _Suki said nothing, standing still by the edge of the level._

 _Date noticed the look she had on her face, "You seriously aren't THAT upset at yourself for not being able to beat up Tsukinose, are you?"_

" _WHO'S UPSET AT—" She stopped, midway through her outburst, unknowingly feeling a wave of emotions flooding her. She tried hiding her face again, knowing that what Date said was true, she WAS upset but it wasn't at Tsukinose, "Go away."_

" _Look, mate," Date curled his lips, "it's done, okay? Let's just go back to our dorms, cool?"_

" _Shut up," Suki scoffed sarcastically, yet a pain in her heart made it almost came out as a croak, "Can't you just fucking leave me alone, you brute? What's wrong with you?"_

" _What's wrong with me?" Date said in incredulity, putting a hand over his large chest in disbelief, "What's wrong with you?! I almost DIED because of you two! You put us all through you bullshit excuse of a minority complex, and lemme guess: you haven't even apologized to any of that, have you?!"_

" _I DON'T KNOW, LEAVE ME ALONE, GODDAMMIT!" She immediately stomped away in anger. Again, tears threatened to leave her eyes. She didn't need this, she didn't want anyone to see her ever again, especially not Date._

 _Just when she was already several steps away, Kaori Tsukinose said aloud, "Seiji was asking for you!"_

 _She didn't know what to say, time just seemed to stop. When she looked back, she didn't expect to see Kaori on an equal level of understanding as her. However, she didn't want to hear it, not from her, "… So?!"_

" _I'm… sorry about before, but I realized my mistake now," Kaori said again, "I heard everything from Seiji and you're right… I shouldn't boss everything by myself…"_

 _She couldn't turn around and face him, something was still eating her from deep inside, "Peh! Like YOU would know anything about anything! Orimura probably said that to make me feel bad, right?"_

 _Then, Kaori scrunched her face, "He saved you… doesn't that mean anything?"_

 _Yes… it did, "NO IT DIDN'T! God… don't ever talk to me again. I don't want to get close to YOU and your knives!"_

" _I WASN'T—" Kaori stopped, her shoulders rising in fury, her knuckles tightened, she tried to stop her hiccups but she only knew it was futile, "… I was jealous."_

 _Suki stopped again, but hearing that from Kaori just felt wrong somehow. When she turned around, she didn't expect Kaori to look so… desperate. It was the one thing Suki hated her for, and that was when she clearly acted bossy, but now she seemed lost._

" _I was jealous that I couldn't beat you… I tried to hide from the fact that not everything was my business. When I knew that Jun was dying, instead of helping I only made it worse. Now when I see that I could've gotten you killed—that you were like this because of me—I felt sick. Even more so when Seiji himself had to put up with everything for you," She was holding her heart, almost seemed like she was aching, "I just wanted this program to go well… I never wanted anyone to get hurt…"_

 _The world mirrored what she spoke about; the mall, what happened with Jun, what happened to Seiji, what could've happened to Suki, perhaps all of it took a toll on Kaori. Some kind of survivor's guilt._

" _Oh my god," Date muttered under his breath, there was some sort of pitch in his tone that didn't sound like what he usually was, it sounded almost serious, "Look, let's just go back to the dorms, would that make you feel better?"_

 _Make her feel better? Was she allowed to feel better? She didn't know, "I… I don't… Gah!" She shouted into the air, unable to express her feelings about the whole situation, "Why do you care?! Just leave me alone!"_

" _Because I hate people who think that they're only worth something when they win something," He told her, his voice louder than his usual pompous attire, "Don't you fucking remember what we did months ago? What the hell happened to that? You know if you keep acting like that, Orimura's sacrifice would mean nothing, right?"_

 _Right… Seiji Orimura… her foil…. She somehow felt like she wasn't allowed to hate him or like him, probably because she mentally couldn't. The reason why was unknown, but she knew as much as the other person that what he did truly left a mark within her._

" _Whatever…" Suki finally muttered out as they wind blew once more, hugging her own figure in need of heat, "Nothing's gonna change."_

 _The wind was blowing, but Date seemed unfaltering, "Of course, somethin's changing! Compare you back then and the you now. You came from a real shit place, and trust me, I know what it's like when people try to hold you down. But it must've took a lot of willpower to stand up to people, right?"_

" _You don't know that."_

" _Oh, man, I_ know _," Date said again in the same low yet serious voice, "Tell me that wasn't you being controlled by your inferiority complex."_

"… _So, what? There was no future for me from the beginning, so it's pointless… pointless for me to try and do… anything…" Her nose felt burning, but this didn't feel like the same burn when her father had slapped her._

 _Burning, burning, eating everything up to ashes; her heart desired no more but to be taken away from all the pain. Enough is enough, she didn't understand why she needed to go through all this._

" _You're wrong!" Kaori said again, "I—"_

" _No," Suki snapped at her, "Not from you! I… I had enough! I don't want to hear it anymore! I don't… I don't want to feel this way… Why can't I just… why can't I just disappear…?"_

 _Both Kaori and Date watched as Suki suddenly grasped the hem of her paling hair with her trembling hands. Her knees suddenly gave up, and she fell towards the ground with a soft sobbing. It seemed like everything around her was tumbling down, with her feelings and beliefs conflicting against each other._

 _She was crying, a lot. Unable to suppress the confusion she felt._

" _I don't… I don't want to feel like this…" She cried._

" _You don't have to," Kaori told her firmly, "I don't want to let down whatever Seiji believed you to be… Please, tell me."_

 _Just as Kaori was taking a step forward, Suki began to spoke, "I don't know… who I am supposed to be…" She muttered out, just loud enough to be heard, "I… I've always been thinking I was a villain… even then I believed that I was useless. When we fought together at the Arena… it was the happiest I've ever been because finally… finally I was being someone… even if that was something I wasn't borne to be. Because of that I wanted to be a hero so bad. But I kept failing at my grades, I couldn't become… I ran out of control… If I started being a hero again I… I'm scared that I'd hurt someone again…"_

 _It took an entire minute until she regained her senses._

" _Did Seiji really think of me that way?"_

 _Nobody answered, but then Kaori realized that Suki was talking to her, "I wouldn't doubt it."_

"… _Is he sure?"_

" _Uh…" Date began, "You know he broke his spine for you, right?"_

" _Date!" Kaori gasped in incredulity, in which he immediately tried reasoning with her._

" _Whaaaaat?!" Date Takehiro threw his beefy arms up, "Look, I know I'm the last fucking guy to say this but… well… it's not too late to change, y'know. Seiji's that kind of guy! She shouldn't… take things too hard on herself. If she keeps doing this, she'll have her head wrapped around it till she pops. Just be herself and all that crap."_

 _The voice that she heard wasn't entirely genuine, there was a bit of an off vocal tone here and there, almost as if he was squeaking._

" _Not that I would know anything, OBVIOUSLY," He backtracked in a loud fit, "I mean… people still want to forgive and forget… So long_ I _don't get killed again."_

 _Yet, that was enough for Suki to let out a small giggle, until she burst out laughing like a maniac. Of course, this came as a surprise from both Kaori and Date—especially Date who had just felt like he was insulted through all his skin and bones._

 _Suki didn't stand up from where she crouched, head still hiding between her knees, covered in thigh-high socks. Her body could be seen trembling, almost like she was softly sobbing. However, that wasn't the case. Trembling, quite so, unable to stop it, even. But, the ay she sobbed, it wasn't out of sadness, rather, she was trying to control her laughs which made her chest feel very painful._

 _Seeing Date like this, it came as a surprise to her, but that wasn't what brought her to feel like this, it was the fact that despite it all there were people who still wanted her to change…_

"You're nothing but a villain," _She remembered again, until she mused again to herself,_ "Well… it's not so bad, then."

 _Kaori, for the first time in her life, didn't know what to do. She thought she did the right thing with Jun, but that surely backfired, so she almost doubted herself in trying to pester with Suki._

 _Just as she was in loss for words, Suki spoke up again, "Did Kobayashi say anything to you, Takehiro?"_

 _Date blinked, "Euh, nah."_

" _Alright," She muttered under her breath before standing up, "guess I'll have to start somewhere then."_

" _Suki?" Kaori said, feeling confused._

" _What about… what if I apologize," Suki cut her off with a rather distinctive tone, almost as if it was sounded like a doubt in between confidence, "to Seiji Orimura, I mean."_

"… _All he wanted from you is that you're here for him," Kaori responded, "For us."_

" _Is that really okay?"_

" _Of course."_

" _What about you, Takehiro?" She asked again, "Will you be okay with me?"_

 _This sudden confidence struck Date by surprise, he almost got taken aback, "Well yeah, can't dwell in the past forever. Gotta make peace with it."_

 _So, basically, he didn't hold any grudges against her._

" _Y'know," She said, "I never got to say… sorry…"_

" _Me too," Kaori remarked, hanging her head, "I'll help. With whatever you want to do to help."_

 _When Date didn't answer, he was met with a rather sharp glare from Kaori. "What? I did say I was getting sick of being put on the edge of fucking limbo because of you two. Don't_ I _get a credit after the shit I've been through?"_

" _Hehe," That was the thought process Suki used to have wasn't it? "Fuck you."_

 _Date's eyes widened at this, "Well, that was a fucking—"_

" _And thank you."_

"… _plot twist…" Date shook his head, almost in disbelief, "Right."_

" _So, what do you want to do now?" Kaori asked her after a pregnant pause._

 _There was a shred of uncertainty at that very second, for she knew what she wanted, but not how she wanted it. In a nutshell, it was as if she had a blink of thought shimmering under her confidence and resolution that asked her "Should I? Or shouldn't I?"_

" _I can help, if you want," Kaori reassured her again._

 _Then, Suki sighed under her breath, "I want to apologize… to both Orimura and Kobayashi. I want to thank Orimura for still believing in me, and I regret ever putting Kobayashi in that situation. Mind you, I didn't think that he'll go that far with you and Jun."_

 _Kaori giggled softly, "I underestimated him, too. I let my guard down, which I shouldn't have."_

"… _How's Hamada, by the way?"_

 _Of course, that question made Kaori got taken aback, "I… I don't know honestly. I hope the both of us could talk it out after this… that is if he still didn't have any grudges against me…"_

 _Suki honestly felt sorry for her, but she guessed that she was directly responsible as well knowing that Tarasu Kobayashi was cornering him under her commands._

"… _You should better off going to Seiji first, whenever you feel like it," Kaori suggested, "And if it doesn't come to you the chance to speak with Tarasu, I will always take your place. Besides… I guess I needed to talk about the Jun problem as well."_

 _It was then that Suki decided to look back at Kaori, who merely returned to her a smile. Why a smile? She wondered. But then she realized that it was because she hadn't stopped crying when she looked at her._

" _We'll always be there to help you, Suki," Kaori said in a cheerful tone, yet… there was this little hint in her voice that almost sounded like Suki when she always felt like a thousand daggers were stabbing at her throat, "So… please, be there for us."_

 _Some kind of wet lodge in Kaori's throat, soft enough to be heard only by a faint ghost, but Suki noticed it._

 _The feeling was all too familiar._

"… _Okay."_

.

.

.

It had been a few days since then, and here she was again at Ground Beta standing at the exact same spot, wearing the exact same costume.

She looked at the palms of her hand in a resurging feeling of nausea. It was the same place where she felt the deepest of rock bottom; such a memory was too painful to bear as she stared into the darkness of her heart still finding the emotion lingering in the depths.

It was the same as it had been back then, but now, the hateful feeling she felt wasn't towards herself, but towards the emotion in itself.

She shook her head, trying to drown away the thoughts that she had at that day, everything was going fine, there is no point in shouldering the burden now that she ha decided to turn over a new leaf and start over as a different person.

It seemed like the wind, even in summer, blew the strongest in Ground Beta that day. Her cape was flailing, so did her hair, and so did her skirt. Under the sun gleamed the new, better looking costume of hers since the Battle Trial; now equipped with a utility belt and emergency harnesses, as well as climbing boots and friction gloves. She didn't want last time to happen again, after all.

Thinking about this made her somewhat happy, knowing that she was making change.

"Change…" She said to herself in verbatim, "I wonder if I'll keep changing like this."

It had only been a few months, after all. Well, time did feel faster when you are training to become heroes.

"Yo," Said a voice as it came up to her. Date had broken off from his group to strike a few words at her, it seemed, "You hanging, okay?"

Suki didn't answer, mainly because she didn't know what to answer. Date, as of late, seemed to be looking at her less and less lecherously, and well, that was completely out of character for him. Maybe _she_ had been the one acting out of character and he didn't like that.

Fortunately for her, she didn't need to answer as her teammate came up to both of them and answered for her.

"Hello, Date," Kaori Tsukinose spoke, wearing her skintight jumpsuit with belts of knives, "Is there something you need?"

"Nah," He said, shaking his head and pursing his lips, "Just checkin' round is all."

This made Kaori smile, "That's very kind of you Date. Rest assured, we'll be fine for the rest of the lesson."

"Hell yeah, you would," Date barked aloud, before sighing, "It's been a damn stressing coupl'a days. Scared if had gotten to you guys."

"Could it be that you're worried?" Kaori tried to joke.

"Don't be stupid," He was quick to retort, it seemed, "I don't want to lose this program as much as the next person. The first thing I'm worrying is having my only chance to redemption taken away from me. No offense."

"None taken," Suki said monotonously, she had found her voice.

To anyone it was obvious that Date was as blunt as ever, with the edge of his tongue lacking any sense of empathy at all. However, that was not the case for Suki, for she knew that somehow—deep inside—Date understood her pain.

Maybe she needed to ask him someday.

"Well, you two better keep it together," Date scolded as his finger pointed at both the girls, almost like a father scolding his daughters, "I'm going."

It wasn't until a second later that the atmosphere suddenly started to turn heavy.

Both Kaori and Suki exchanged looks, in which the former said "Guess we'll better get going too, huh?"

There was a small silence, until Suki nodded.

The both of them, along with their two other teammates: Miyu Yakushi and Kudou Satou, to dash into Ground Beta in search for their respective area to train. Of course, it was no easy task considering how gigantic Ground Beta was. Fortunately for them—or at least for Kaori and Suki—they had at least memorized a percentage of them during their last time here.

Passing through giant abandoned factories and deserted buildings, they came across a clearing of a parking lot; of course, it was the parking lot that both Kaori and Suki's team had fought during the Battle Trials.

Seeing the environment around them, noticing the light poles, faint ground paint, and the ooze of dust, Kaori turned to her teammate and spoke, "Brings back memories, huh?"

"… I guess," Of course, only _bad_ memories were what Suki had of that certain day.

Judging from Kaori's expression a moment later, it seemed like she shared some of that, too, "I know… it bothers me that we're here, too. I guess the memory just keeps jamming my head cogs like a monkey wrench."

"Was I…" Suki stopped, trying to rethink of whether or not it was okay for her to say it, "Was I any good?"

"Hm?" Kaori blinked, "Well… you weren't bad. Of course, there's need to be some development one way or another!" She laughed, before trailing off, "… So do I."

Suki was at a loss for words once more. As they both slowed down, regrouping with the rest of their team, Suki had a time to think for herself. After a short musing, she said "Hey."

"Yeah?"

"Do you… remember what I said that day?" She asked.

Kaori pondered for a moment, before her face almost flushed in a rather uncomfortable light.

Suki realized it was too much of a sensitive subject, or something of that sort. She sighed, "I said that I was going to prove to you that I was better, right?"

"Y-yes, you did say that," Kaori nodded in agreement, "Why?"

" _I guess I wanted to… make peace with the past? Is that what Date said?"_ It was what Suki initially thought, but how could she put it in a way that it wouldn't at all ruin her pride by showing how she actually paid attention to that brute of a boy's words, "I'd hate it if I lose to you again."

"But, Suki—"

"Well, not that I'd hate you otherwise," She continued, "I'd hate myself—I think—if I keep sinking down to submission. I keep… having these damn thoughts ever since I spoke to Seiji. It's like… I want a motivation… or rather, I _need_ a motivation."

Kaori's mouth formed into an 'o', until she realized something, "Are… you and Seiji… on first-name terms now?"

Hearing this, Suki made a look of ultimate shock, "Hell no! It just slipped my tongue! We just talked! Talked!" she then realized her outburst and took in a deep breath, "He… made me realize… or sort off. Point is, I know what I want now."

"That's great," Kaori replied after several seconds, "I would be honored to be your rival."

"Right," Suki muttered under her breath, she couldn't quite put it to words but she felt some sort of weird mixture of relief and disappointment, "You… wouldn't be bothered to s-show me some tricks… would you?"

Right out of the pages of Seiji Orimura's guide to trust other people, quite like how Suki put it herself on making sense of Seiji Orimura's overly tolerant attitude.

"Of course!" Kaori beamed, "You still have the same chance of being a hero as us, after all!"

" _Huh…"_ Suki thought to herself in surprise, _"Just like how Orimura had said it…"_

"Oh look!" A cheery, bubbly voice broke out from behind them. It was Kudou Satou who, surprisingly, was being carried on Mika Tatsuya's back, "Suki made a weird face!"

The topic of Mika backpacking Kudou out of the way, Suki did realize the kind of face she was making.

She prodded at her cheeks, her lips, her eyes, her nose, and finally came to the conclusion: what a weird smile she had!

"Eh?! Uhh… Ah! Eeh?!" She stammered uncontrollably, a rising sense of weird pride-eating feeling making her heart hammering inside her chest, "SHUT UP, DON'T LOOK AT ME!"

It took a few moments until Kaori had to regain herself from what seemed like an eternity. Granted, she didn't actually see the smile on Suki's face, however, just imagining could even get a giggle out of her.

Then, she took note of both Mika and Kudou, "Why are you carrying him on your back?"

She seemed to be feeling a tinge of pity of the robotic girl, seeing how her small stature was carrying a boy bigger than herself. Despite that Kudou was smaller Kaori herself, he was still a weight to carry.

"I am experiencing no problems, Kaori Tsukinose," Mika said, almost energetically, "This is merely a training to improve my Physical Examinations. As they all say 'two heads are better than one', or so the saying goes."

"I'll be my entire life savings that little psycho told you that," Suki commented with a vexed tone.

Their conversation was cut to a pause when a static voice rang out from all around them, **"GOOD MORNING, CHILDREN! AREN'T YOU ALL EXCITED FOR TODAY'S LESSON! I KNOW I AM!"**

It was obviously Sunny Wukong's voice judging from the tone of his shouts, but was it really necessary to be that loud?

" **SPLENDID CHILDREN! NOW, AS YOU ALL WOULD HAVE KNOWN, TODAY'S CURRICULUM COVERS—"** His loud static shouts came to a stop, there was an awkward pause… Until it started again, **"WHAT WAS THAT? THEY CAN HEAR ME JUST FINE EVEN IF I DON'T SHOUT? YOU'RE SAYING I SHOULDN'T SHOUT INTO THE MIC?"**

Then, what was heard was a weird thud, before a new voice came to be heard, **"—Give me that…"** it was Hisaki Adachi's, it seemed like he was there as well, **"Alright, children, for today's lesson we** _ **are**_ **covering a search and rescue operation. There will be three groups and three areas for each group, and when you're all gathered there, you are tasked to find—"**

" **TASKED TO FIND** _ **THREE BLACK BOXES**_ **!"** Sun Wukong's voice came to fill the airspace again, **"YES, CHILDREN, THREE. BLACK. BOXES! WHICH WILL BE HIDDEN IN YOUR AREA, GUARDED BY HORDES OF U.A. ROBOTS!"**

"Huh," Kaori mused, "So Adachi's here."

Suki noticed her expression, which signaled a look of uncertainty, "Heard he was getting replaced?"

"… Yeah," Kaori's voice trailed away, before chuckling, "Kind of refreshing to hear him again."

Suki said nothing, but she mirrored the nostalgic look Kaori had.

" **ONCE THIS ANNOUNCEMENT ENDS, IN ABOUT TWO MINUTES, ALL OF YOU ARE FREE TO GO!"** Sunny's static voice shouted again, **"GOOD LUCK, MY CHILDREN!"**

"Haha, Sun Wukong sure has enthusiasm. I guess we can give him credit for that," Kaori tried to make the atmosphere less weird, as well as trying to take note the of the surroundings as she turned to Kudou Satou, "Did you find anything worth mentioning up there?"

Kudou did a quick salute, "Sir, no, sir!"

"Were you expecting something else?" Suki remarked bluntly.

In which, Kaori shrugged, "Well it was worth the shot."

"Sir, I will keep watch of every incident, sir!" Kudou said confidently, "No sir, not one incident sir. Nothing will pass Kudou Satou the lookout!"

It was at that moment an explosion decided to occur with a loud **KA-BOOOOOM!**

They all looked at the source of the shockwave, which by no mean a stranger. A rising smoke of dust, like watching a mortar falling on top of a building. They recognized the force of nature in which that explosion had came from, and finally realized the conclusion they've all been waiting for: the lesson was starting.

There was a full five seconds of silent, before Kudou cried out:

"Lookout!"

.

"Oh, sober up, Adachi!"

Sunny Wukong's loud pompous voice broke the silence in the wide opening field. Only two people were there today, and the both of them seemed so out of place it was written all over their faces.

Hisaki Adachi himself could have used a few more _days_ of sleep, and his friend the Chinese Number 1 Hero wasn't making it any better.

"I'm fine," Adachi tried to reassure him, the tone of his voice just dropping a little bit, "You didn't have to do this if you don't want to."

"If I didn't want to?" Of course, Sunny just laughed again, "It was my lifelong dream to be teaching future heroes from other countries, my friend! I had spent all night to make my _daring_ speech to get them all _hyped_!"

 _Hyped_. _Daring_. It seemed like Sunny had yet to get accustomed with the nouns.

"Yes, but you're not even supposed to be here until next semester," Adachi said. There was a hint on his expression that somehow signaled the emotion of exasperation.

Well, it wasn't as if Adachi wished to be rude enough to distance Sun Wukong from where he literally had the rights to be, but rather Adachi would prefer it if Sun Wukong wouldn't bother himself with what was not supposed to be his job.

Adachi was trying to present his class to the future homeroom teacher, after all. Wouldn't it be logical for him to at least supervise today's lesson?

He supposed it wouldn't hurt, at least, "Well, would you have preferred me to sit back and watch, then?"

"Oh, it would be an honor to be judged by you, my friend," Sunny said ecstatically, "I'm so excited, Hisaki!"

As they stood on top of the rectangular podium, free from the dustiness of the Ground Beta environment, Adachi stared at his wristwatch for about ten seconds, the robots weren't supposed to attack for another sixty.

After that… after that Adachi would retire.

 **KA-BOOOOOM!**

That explosion caught Adachi by surprise, and when he looked up towards the horizon, he saw a rising ball of dust and debris. Someone had already started ahead of schedule.

He narrowed his eyebrows, "…The lesson hasn't started yet."

And just from that, he knew all to well who the culprit was. A rising blackness churned inside his stomach as he raced towards the mic with an already arranged plan of what he wanted to do. However, just as he was getting to the mic, Sun Wukong stopped him with an extended arm and a rather manic grin.

Confused, it took Adachi a second to regain himself, "Sunny, I can handle this."

"No, my friend," Sunny responded simply, "Let me handle this. If there is only one way that I can prove to you that your children would be on safe hands then let me at least teach them this one time."

Safe hands… Was it a wise decision to take a step back? Adachi was almost unsure with himself.

A lifelong dream to teach was one thing, a selfish goal to prove the world that even delinquents can become heroes was another. To Adachi, it was the latter, and he had sworn to turn them into heroes one way or another, which was why he decided to give this responsibility to someone more experienced in the first place.

Sun Wukong was a lot of thing, but he wasn't an amateur hero, "I will take over what you've spent your whole life trying to prove."

Adachi's words were lodged inside his throat, and so he said nothing and took a step back. He was scared, scared of doing the wrong thing. Was this a wise decision? Or was it better to do it by himself? He couldn't tell.

Sunny came to the front of the podium with his hands behind his back, staring at the dust rising in the sky. There was a smile on his face, a rather powerful smile, before he reached out his hand and pressed a button on the mic.

In an instant, the alarms blared, signaling the start of the lesson.

.

"JUN STOP THIS!"

Miyu Yakushi's voice rang out through the area, where it desperately fought the sound of the alarm, the wind, and the shockwaves that echoed powerfully through Ground Beta.

Two people stood behind her: Oboro Kirikagure and Tarasu Kobayashi, mirroring the frantic look she had, and in front of her was the personification of nature's anger itself.

Jun Hamada cannot be stopped, not that there was ever the time where he could be stopped without having to hurt himself first. Watching him as he mowed his way through the building, destroying dozens and dozens of lifeless robots, it seemed too good to be true when they remembered how he was back then at the Battle Trial.

His arms vibrated, ready to let out his full power at any given moment.

Punch here, punch there, all without saying a word. As his team followed into the inside of the building, there was almost nothing left of the robots but their broken bodies. Only the crimson red of his overcoat could be clearly seen from the dusty aftermath.

"Oh bother," One robot said, "I'm not even going to stay alive anyway."

Tarasu Kobayashi could be seen jumping in from what was left of the front entrance, he looked back and noticed something, "The alarm just stopped."

"Useless, wasn't it?" Oboro Kirikagure clicked his tongue, staring intently at Jun Hamada.

His teammate said nothing, their conversation was cut short when they heard Miyu Yakushi once again screaming into the air to try and reach out to Jun Hamada.

"Oh… come on, seriously?!" It was like a field day for her, and of course, considering the stakes of the class, it was obvious that she didn't want Jun to further exploit his powers in front of someone who was supposed to be their new homeroom teacher. She then turned to the rest two of her teammates, "Can't you guys help me, or something?!"

"You've seen what happen when he goes berserk," Oboro argued, "No way in hell will I go against _that_!"

He wasn't wrong, Miyu thought to herself in disappointment, "But we gotta do _something_ at least!"

"Oh, do we?" Oboro said sarcastically, turning his heels to the outside of the building, "Remind me again why we need to do _something_ about someone who was supposed to be someone else's problem?"

"Someone else's—" Miyu could almost not swallow that sentence. It almost seemed too appalling to imagine what Oboro was thinking about at that moment, and she knew all to well that he wasn't acting like himself, "Jun is our classmate! He has at least the same significance as you do, dickhead!"

Of course, handling anger and emotions wasn't exactly Miyu Yakushi's best talent, but it did present what she wanted to say. Oboro, on the other hand, hid his feelings well, which would often come out as heartless and emotionless to others. But now, he had a good reason to do so.

"Does it matter?" He quickly retaliated, "Adachi's not going to be here anymore, isn't he? If we're lucky, Tremor-boy will follow suite. Besides, it's not like the program's gonna let him die anyway."

Heartless, yet… it was logical for him to think so. After all, all of them saw firsthand how dangerous Jun was in battle. Had it not been for the fact that nobody had any control of what to do, Oboro wouldn't have acted this way. However, for Miyu, it wasn't about whether or not Jun would kill himself or others first, it was that she had feared that it would destroy the many months she had spent with her new classmates.

In short, even if they couldn't do anything, Miyu will not let what relationship she had built upon the years of outcast to be destroyed from just a snap of a finger, "Kirikagure, this program will not survive without him! You know that!"

"Didn't you hear what I said?" Oboro told her sharply, "Adachi won't let this kid die! Even if he would, it won't matter if Hamada keeps acting like this, anyway! None of it would if he lacked the damn composure and self-control. You, Yakushi, know that better than anyone else."

Of course, she did, and of course Oboro would think this way. She was the one who showed Oboro mercy, after all.

"There's nothing we can do," Oboro remarked again, "Absolutely nothing."

No, Miyu refused to believe that. She couldn't just stand there, wearing the hero costume that her parents had took the time to help her make, and talk about hopelessness.

"We HAVE to do something," Miyu unknowingly raised her voice. She stood her ground, not faltering as she looked eye to eye with the looming boy, "You want to play the quitter go ahead and get out of here, I'm not going to fucking sit around and wait until what last chance I have to redeem myself disappear."

"Fucking A," Oboro spat back, "Let me guess, you'll lullaby him to sleep?"

"Hey genius, you do realize that if he bulldozes the fucking building down on us, you're still going to be under the debris, right?" She had just about enough with Oboro, and finally, she decided that she would not hear it any longer. Perhaps, there was nothing she could do after all, but still, she would not betray her words when she said that she wouldn't just sit around and do nothing.

Oboro said nothing, but Miyu wasn't surprised as much as she was disappointed. If he wouldn't help, then, she would find another way.

Just as she was going to turn around and face the explosions of shockwaves, she realized that her other teammate was nowhere to be seen, only to find him again already walking ahead of them towards the source of said explosions.

Jun was already almost out of sight through all the dust and darkness of the building, with piles and piles of robotic corpse enough to level his knees completely, but Tarasu Kobayashi came up to him and simply landed his palm upon the shorter boy's shoulder.

Jun looked back in sudden primal instinct, his eyes gleaming with pure unadulterated flurry of power, almost as if it was some kind of self defense tactic.

When he came to face Tarasu on the eyes, he simply told the other "Don't touch me," with a growl.

"You're acting stupid again, Hamada," Tarasu chastised, straightening up his back for the first time in his life, "This is getting us nowhere."

Of course, Jun pulled away from the taller boy in anger, "Don't tell me what to do, you fucking cunt."

Tarasu was almost taken aback by his response. Of course, it was no mystery how hostile Jun Hamada was to others, but there was something off with how he was acting today.

The hunched-back boy said nothing, "You do realize you'll just kill yourself at this rate, right?"

"You fucking shut your mouth," Jun warned defensively, his fangs baring, "I don't need YOU—especially you—to fucking chastise me. I'm not gonna lose to you ever again. One day, I'll make you eat shit, alright? All of you—" he gestured, "—when I'm done, I'll fucking kill you all."

"And I'll be you ten thousand bucks Adachi'll like that," it wasn't what Tarasu intended to say, the hunched-back boy had taken what Kaori Tsukinose said to consideration, after all.

But he didn't think Jun would like hearing that.

"DON'T YOU FUCKING SAY THAT NAME!" His outburst wasn't surprising, no, it was the fact that he did it thinking that it had the value of being insulted, "DON'T YOU FUCKING SAY THAT NAME IN FRONT OF ME EVER AGAIN!"

"You know you're really fucking freaking out on us," Tarasu remarked, throwing his hands all over the mounds of corpses of dead robots, "You think that _this_ is what a hero looks like?"

"Oho, pretty fucking mighty of you to think that I—" Jun gestured to himself, before pointing at Tarasu with the middle finger, "—am like _you_ sheeps?"

"At least we're not fucking stupid to break the only beating heart we have," Tarasu said again, "Jun, step the fuck back, man. You're gonna kill someone at this rate."

"Good," He didn't shout, nor did he seemed to mind fighting Tarasu, "Maybe that'll teach you a lesson."

He went ahead again, to the next level of the building, finding himself facing another horde of robots ready to engage at him. The robots programming whirred mechanically as they noticed the opponent and raised their artilleries in response.

Jun did the same, though he seemed to have lack the power to wield his Quirk at full power. He raised his fist in response as well, only to find his wrist caught by someone behind him.

"Yeah, by 'someone' I meant you," Tarasu called out just as he was walking away, his hand holding Jun's trembling arm, "How long do you reckon you'll lose both your fucking limbs before losing your life, eh?"

Jun shot a sharp glare at Tarasu, "Tch… Let go…"

"Jun, listen to me, you little shit," Tarasu spoke to his ear as his grip on Jun's wrist tightened, "Tsukinose told you what would happen and what, you threw that away at face value? You do realize she was right, right? I didn't save your life for nothing. Put down your fucking fist, Jun, and take a step back."

"Tch, don't fuck me with," Jun lowered his voice, "You should've fucking left me to die. Pretty sure you had no problem killing someone."

"Oh, I'll be glad to do so," Tarasu retorted, "Unfortunately that would have looked bad on my job application. But that doesn't matter, not when I know I still have three years to spend with you first."

"Let… go…" Jun was struggling, something that he seemed to have never done before at the hands of another person.

After having a rampage a few seconds ago, he had lost his power, that was for sure, and the only thing he still managed to do was to put out all his determination first and foremost. Tarasu had no doubts that this kid had nerves of steel, as seen how Jun literally suicide bombed himself to kill him. It was the thing killing him, Tarasu mused, remembering what Kaori said to him that day. Of course, he had learned not to underestimate the short boy, but there was still a risk that someone would get hurt by his hands.

At the deal of freedom and redemption, he had decided to help Kaori Tsukinose to make sure that this program reached its goal. It was a risky gamble, but he was an opportunistic man, and this is an opportunity which wouldn't come for another decade.

So, he took her words to consideration, something about him being helping the H.R.I for a good cause. Unfortunately, Kaori Tsukinose wasn't here, so what would someone like her do?

"This is our chance!" One of the robots beeped, its red eye shining with determination, "Don't let them get to the hostage my fellow robotic allies!"

Waves of them sped towards the two students who were currently engaged in a tug of war between themselves. Tarasu had no choice but to let go of Jun's arm when he saw that the robots were getting too close for comfort.

He spun behind him, just as a robotic opponent leaped several times its boxed height with the help of its suspensions attached to the bottom wheel. It didn't take Tarasu even a second to grow a blade of diamond out of his arm, what remained of the robot was divided into two parts, vertically sliced clean from the top to the bottom.

Out of the corners of his eye, he saw Jun Hamada dashing away through the hordes of robots. Gritting his teeth, Tarasu tried to call out, "Oi! Jun, get back here—ACK!"

"Ignore the pipsqueak, fellow robots!" One opponent shouted out in a mechanical tone as it jumped upon Tarasu's back, pouncing him by surprise, "That little human has no power to defeat us all! Defeat the boy cladded in jewelry first, my friends!"

"Defeat the jewelry boy!" They chanted as they began pouncing upon Tarasu one by one, with more and more holding him by the foot to disable mobility, "Defeat the jewelry boy!"

Tarasu was cornered, he had taken the situation to lightly. It seemed like he couldn't focus on Jun Hamada too much with all these robots running around. The way these boxed-like things rattled mechanically as they rode his hunched back like a rodeo made him mad, but the fact that they called him 'jewelry boy' had put the icing on the cake.

Piles upon piles of robots, all not even higher than Tarasu's calf, swallowed his body. The single red eye they had on top of their little necks beeped joyously, "We did it, friends! We took the jewelry boy down! Hip-hip… hoor-AAAAAAAAAA—"

The grounds cracked beneath their feet and rows of diamond spikes rose like waves before throwing every single robot away, some even getting pierced by the spikes. The aftermath was left with just a ring of giant spikes, before a foot stepped forward from the rings.

"Should've slept more," Tarasu commented with a tired tone. His bare chest now growing rows of diamond-like armor, "Now where is… oh no…"

Looking for Jun was hard, noting that he was smaller than all the other children, but now that the robots were smaller Tarasu had the advantage of spotting him easily. However, he did not bet on him getting cornered by robots as well.

"Let go of me you recycle bin trash!" Jun barked in anger as two robots grabbed ahold of the hem of his crimson overcoat, while another was straddling him by the neck, "I'll turn you into fucking dystopia, you deadbolted rustbucket! I'll scrap your fucking Skynet asses into oblivion!"

He went on to madly spout out insults as he helplessly tried to get the robot on his back off of him. The two robots holding his overcoat exchanged glances, "Wow, are all humans born with this little self-control?"

"I'm more surprised that he has more insults than our programmed dictionary has words."

Tarasu got to the scene a few moments later, easily knocking the surrounding robots away from Jun. The shorter boy spun around from the last robot which was riding his neck like a rodeo. Just as its metallic grip loosened, Jun immediately threw the robot to the ground with a loud crash.

He grunted and growled, punching his fist to break the robot's body to no avail. Tarasu noticed this and then proceeded to notice his bleeding knuckles, why wasn't he using his Quirk?

Considering how their designated building only had three floors in total, perhaps he could wrap this lesson up without Jun creating more collateral damage, "Jun, come on, we need to hurry to the last f—"

"SHUT UP!" Jun barked back without even listening to what Tarasu had to say.

He kept punching the last robot with all his might, each strike of his fist had a lag in between as if he stopped from pain or trying to push whatever left of his power to push his Quirk out.

"God fucking dammit," Tarasu cursed to himself, reaching out to Jun's wrist once more as he raised his fist for another strike, "Jun stop this bullshit, goddammit! You're not helping anyone's case, even less for yourself! Fucking think for once! Quit acting like a goddamn whiny bitch!"

"What do you know, you block-headed asshole!" Jun spat back, still trying to land his fist to the poor dented robot before him, "I'm… I'm not fucking done yet!"

"You've said that for the last few millennia, you idiot!" Tarasu told him, "and nothing's fucking changing! Quit it! You're making this worse for everyone!"

"Let me go and I'll show you WORSE!" and just like that the fist that was intended to punch the last remaining robot slipped past Tarasu's grip and collided with the taller boy's torso, sending him flying backwards with a **THOOOM!**

It was a very bad timing for both Miyu Yakushi and Oboro Kirikagure, as they almost got hit by a Tarasu's body flying towards them. They dodged the projectile just in time for it to get himself stuck in a wall.

"Oh, fuck me," Oboro cursed loudly, noticing that Tarasu's effort to communicate with Jun had been rendered useless, "Now what?"

Miyu gulped, almost running out of ideas, "You know we can't just let him be like this. He probably spent the last drop of hi energy on that punch."

"Well, if we're lucky maybe he'll get that black box for us!" Oboro shouted out in a sarcastic manner.

"Yeah, that is if he doesn't bite the big one first," Tarasu spoke from behind them, his body still lodged into the wall like a nail, "Yakushi is right, he doesn't have enough power to go on. If we can't talk him out of this then we'll force him."

Oboro seemed less than pleased, "Wha—Why in the hell are you siding with her? Hamada's not gonna fucking die, you do know that, right?"

"Don't underestimate the kid," Tarasu nonchalantly replied, "The boy's too stubborn for his own good. If he wanted to, he could lose his life or make others lose theirs, like what would've happened if I hadn't helped saving him that time."

With a light push, he jumped down from the literal hole in the wall, before mildly brushing his skin from the dust and debris. He slowly readjusted his muscles and bones, that punch from Jun did a number on his ribs, however it was nothing fatal.

"Yakushi, I need you to immobilize him just enough so he doesn't get to move," He told his female teammate, before turning to Oboro, "You feel free to do what you want. Try not to hold me down."

"Oi!" Oboro said in response, almost feeling insulted, "What about the lesson? We're supposed to get the black box, remember?"

"We'll get that last," Tarasu told him, "It won't matter if Hamada killed himself first. That, or he makes a fool of himself by destroying the whole building."

Oboro grumbled, "Fine. I'll go get the fucking black box."

"I don't care, otherwise."

And with that, Tarasu sped forwards, trying to catch up to Jun. Miyu wasn't given enough time to prepare herself, but it seemed like Tarasu knew what to do so she decided to put her faith in whatever he had planned. Of course, Miyu herself wasn't sure if she was doing the right thing, knowing that she had taken what Oboro said into consideration. Looking back at the looming boy she gave him one last look of determination as the two of them followed Tarasu, but Oboro said nothing, only a blank look of disgust splattered across his face.

Meanwhile, Jun Hamada was clutching his trembling hands, having only to reach halfway towards the stairs leading to the third and final floor. He bit his bottom lip before looking up, there were still many opponent robots left, some of which he didn't even get to finish off.

He cursed inside his mind, feeling the pain on his knuckles slowly rising up to his mind, _"NO! I'm not gonna lose to this one. Just watch me. I'll retrieve the black box mys—"_

Just before he had anything else to say, he felt his movements stopped by a sudden grip around his legs. He looked down, and saw pale white bone sticking out from the ground, wrapping his legs to form a grotesque version of it.

He couldn't move, he couldn't even break it, not with the amount of strength he had. What's worse, the pale bone prison was rising up to his crotch, then to his chest, before engulfing him completely from the neck down.

"What the—" He tried to compose himself to address his situation, but he already figured out what had happened when he caught sight of the skeletal looking girl at the corner of his eye, "UNHAND ME YOU BITCH!"

Miyu was used to insults and bad words, she even taught her brothers some of them, but there was something from Jun's mouth which gave his insults more layers of spite that made her cringe.

" _Tarasu was right,"_ MIyu thought to herself as she noticed something, _"It seemed like Jun had already lost most of his power to activate his Quirk…"_

"You keep him there," The hunched-back boy said to Miyu as he proceeded to defend both her and Jun from the remaining opponent robots, "Make sure he doesn't get out."

"I'm going to get the black box before the time runs out," Oboro muttered with low tone as he walked up to the stairs, "What a drag…"

"NO, YOU'RE FUCKING NOT, YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Jun struggled under the mold of bones, grunting and barking madly like a cornered rat.

"Yes, he is," Tarasu said back, "And that'll be enough from you."

"NO!" Jun screamed again, his veins popping, "NO! NO! LET ME GO! YOU WON'T TAKE THIS FROM ME!"

"Jun stop this!" Miyu tried to get her words in again, "Okay? You're not yourself! We'll handle the rest of it!"

"SHUT UP!" He said in response, thrashing his head against the bone around his neck, "SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! LIKE HELL I'M GONNA LET YOU HUMILIATE ME AGAIN!"

"You're only humiliating yourself if you keep acting like this," Tarasu spouted back, keeping the three of them from being surrounded by robots, "Sit the fuck down, you hear?"

He shook his head and tried to drown his thoughts away from Jun's constant screaming, he learned that it was not the best to do at this kind of situation where you are practically surrounded by enemies. Oboro could handle himself just fine, Tarasu's job was to make sure as Jun was being put neutral, no robots will interfere and make his job harder.

Miyu Yakushi did the best she could to help them. These robots were smart, almost as if they were programmed with strategized attacks. Well, it would make sense since they were in a hostage rescue situation. As another horde tried to flank Tarasu, she immediately stopped them with another wave of bony spikes protruding out of the ground the second she stomped her foot outwards. The robots came tumbling down with static cries, and Miyu still had a capacity of her Quirk stored in her. However, their number was still in the dozens, not to mention their metallic body made it twice as hard to destroy, it was going to be a long lesson.

She looked back at Jun, and saw him still struggling to break free. His face was slowly coloring itself red, almost as if he was being constipated. It was a pain to see him like this, knowing that Miyu knew how it felt like being trapped between a prickly mass of bones, struggling would only make it more uncomfortable.

Just as she turned her head away, she had overlooked one robot which was slowly crawling up from Jun's leg towards his torso, "Target can't move, yes? Very easy to take down, yes? I'll make you pay for what you did to my pretty face, yes?"

Jun immediately recognized the robot as the one he had failed to finish as he lacked to power to break through its metallic shell. The robot, however, was in a bad shape, as its head was dented inwards and the red light that was its eye blinked softly in a dim hue, almost as if it had lost some working part of itself.

The robot came up to Jun's wide-open head, which it then proceeded to pull at his cheeks with its blunt pincers, "Little boy broke my face, yes? I'll break yours too, ok?"

However, the robot did not count on the slipperiness of the bone prison that Jun's body was encased in, in a mild programmed surprise he latched on to Jun's unmoving left arm which, from the sudden force of the robot's fall, cracked up by the elbow.

His left joint was free, but the rest of his arm was still encased, it seemed he could still move his upper arm horizontally just fine. The robot was still latching on to his upper arm and, no matter how much Jun tried to shake it off, the robot seemed to be fearing itself from falling. Jun had an idea, and with that he flexed and extended his arm as quickly as he could.

The poor robot who was still latching on with his pincers collided against Jun's body and shoulder like some kind of a self-inflicting mace as it tried to hold on against the inertia with all its might, "Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow."

With every contact the robot made with the bone encasement that entrapped Jun, the bones cracked in response, until the moment came when they cracked open completely like an egg.

Jun immediately pushed forward with what was left of his strength, and Miyu immediately noticed this.

"Hey, wait!" She tried to call out the second she saw him breaking out from her bone trap, "Goddammit you can't just—Ah!"

"I caught the skeleton woman!" A robot shouted out in a victorious beep as it jumped towards Miyu with both its arms spread out, immediately catching her by the chest, "Quickly friends! Neutralize the enemy before—"

"GEROFF!" They certainly didn't count on her fighting back, it seemed. She easily punched the robot away, sending it crying in a monotonous whirr, "Lecher…"

Of course, she didn't take any more time to catch up to Jun. In all honesty, she didn't need to run towards him at all; with a step of her foot, massive waves of sharp bones quickly raced towards the short boy, catching him by the foot yet again.

"It's over, Jun. We can't let you risk hurting yourself," Miyu warned, but she was shocked when she met him eye to eye with a small smile.

"You always put the same damn trick, you know that?" Jun Hamada chuckled, before making his legs tremble and tremble until it shook to the power of a tremor, strong enough to instantly break through the encasing before it even reached his knees, "It's not even strong enough to withstand my damn Quirk."

" _Tsk, so there's still some juice left in him… that means he probably has enough power to destroy this building along with us inside…"_ Miyu spoke to herself with a begrudging tone, before shouting out "There's no point, you'll hurt yourself otherwise!"

"And why do you care?" It didn't seem like a blatant insult or a rhetorical question right off the bat to signify how little she mattered to him, it sounded almost genuine, "Why in the FUCK DO ANY OF YOU CARE?!"

Miyu didn't know how to answer that, but the bottom line was that she had never been so grateful to be in the program. She wouldn't let anything, not even Adachi leaving, not even Jun dying, to change what would be gambling for her future, "Jun, I'm fucking serious, dude. Don't do anything stupid."

The two were suddenly holding stances, eyeing each other at eye level. No movement for a whole five seconds, before he sped away towards the third floor.

Miyu was inherently faster, and she caught up to him, giving him a hard kick, which sent him sideways. Jun's reflexes were fast enough to block it with his upper arm, while also inducing it with his Quirk. Miyu was caught by surprise when she felt a sudden shockwave explode from the spot her foot made contact with his arm.

The two blew apart, sending each other even further away from the stairs. Miyu could feel her legs trembling from the shockwave when she picked herself up, but she realized Jun was feeling more the pain when he held his trembling arm with a thunder-struck expression.

" _Shit,"_ Miyu finally knew the situation: it wasn't as if Jun had lost his power, his body was just losing the strength to withstand it. He could blow the building at any moment and it would be insta-kill for him, _"SHIT!"_

Straight out of the words of a hitman, Miyu remembered: He's stubborn enough to kill himself and destroy the building at the same time without a second thought. She couldn't do anything to immobilize him without having to risk her own life, Jun's life, and the rest of her teammate's life. If mere robots could trigger his anger, then she couldn't at all have him run towards the last floor.

"KOBAYASHI, HELP ME!"

Tarasu caught her shout and doubled back from where he was towards Jun, who was still on the ground clutching his hand from shock. There was no telling what he'd do once he had gotten up there, surrounded by robots, and despite that, they still aren't sure if Jun still had the power to fight against the robots themselves.

Considering the risks, Tarasu quickly tackled Jun by the shoulders, "Final warning, asshole."

Jun seemed to be too occupied with his own pained body to handle Tarasu's strong tackle, in which he resorted to biting away against the armlock around his neck. Now Tarasu knew just how sharp his canines were.

"God fucking—" The bite seemed to have given Jun his escape, but he was further caught by another wave of skeletal arms.

Miyu easily encased him yet again after Tarasu granted her a few seconds to regain herself, with all her might she summoned a literal army of arms from the ground as they grabbed and held down Jun. She doubled the encasings on him after realizing how easy it was to break the first one, but she was even more surprised when Jun powered up his Quirk once more from the ground.

They could see it, his whole-body trembling like mad. But it wasn't like any normal tremble, it was a tremor that signed of another oncoming strike.

"HE'S GOING TO STRIKE AGAIN!" Tarasu shouted to Miyu as he was about a second away to catching up to Jun, "KNOCK HIM OUT! HE'LL KILL EVERYONE IF WE DON'T—"

 **THOOOM!**

The surge of power knocked both Tarasu and Miyu back, and freed Jun from the skeletal hands that held him down. This was different, this wasn't what he had knocked Miyu with a moment earlier, and it was even more powerful than what Tarasu was punched with that even made him flying across the room. This shockwave vibrated through the core of every robot and human in vicinity, sometimes even turning off the life of some of the robots.

When Miyu landed sharply on her rear, she could feel her lungs suffocating, almost as if she was shot by a buckshot shotgun. She couldn't breathe, and every inhale she took came out as choking sounds.

Tarasu picked himself up, feeling his body made cracking noises here and there. The sensation was all too familiar. He saw the aftermath of what the world around him came to be, he saw bodies of metal scattered all around him and even some who was still beeping yet having their bodies in literal scraps. Then he noticed Miyu beside him, who coughed uncontrollably over the dusty ground, he immediately went to her aid.

"Don't worry, it'll go away in a minute," He assured her.

"W-what happened?" She choked out, still feeling her lungs under pressure.

"That was what would have felt like if you came across a landmine," Tarasu simply told her, before knocking his knuckles upon his ribcage, "The force is strong enough to be felt all over the body, almost like being punched by All Might himself. Luckily my chest is made out of diamonds, but I guess yours aren't…"

"How the…." Miyu could feel the ground tremble under her feet, and she couldn't tell if it was her mind playing tricks on her or not, "How the hell did he… managed to do that? Last time I saw… he needed to make contact against something solid… to activate his shockwaves…."

"Yeah, that's what I initially thought," Tarasu felt the ground shook too, but he was sure that it wasn't his imagination, "I saw it myself. It seemed like he powered up his heart with his Quirk, so it activates every time his heart beats."

"He's insane…" Miyu looked ahead, trying to get ahold of the sight of Jun Hamada, only to find dust in her vision… and the whole building shaking around her.

The whole building was going to crumble.

.

"Waaaah!" The last opponent robot shouted in its static monotonous voice as it flew backwards until it crashed with the wall with enough force to break it into pieces.

From where it landed, its red eye ultimately dead, four people huddled together in the middle of robotic corpses, standing victorious.

"That's the last of them," Mori Kururugi said, stretching her legs after having to give a strong kick, "Let's get the black box now."

"Right…" Seiji Orimura replied, being the frontmost one out of the group, followed by both Yato Shimura and Date Takehiro.

The four of them proceeded to walk through the floor, which was the last of the three in the building. They stepped over the scraps of robots and wires and what was left of the aftermath after they stormed the castle with less effort than needed.

To Seiji, it seemed rather anti-climactic, knowing that his life had been about being crushed by pillars and headbutting a man who was in every way more powerful than him by a million years. Now, there seemed to be no other obstacles nor opponent to slow him and his team down, they could see the black box sitting idly by the end of the room encased in a glass box on top of what seemed to be half a pillar.

A few short stairs were between him and the glass cube which encased the black box, in the darkness by the dim after-morning light he could see the black box gleaming like obsidian.

There was a pause, until Mori turned to him, "What's wrong, chief?"

"Nothing," Seiji easily said before smiling at her, "Just… sorry, I was a little useless, wasn't I?"

He was referring to the search and rescue simulation it seemed. Mori gave him an even brighter smile as both her ears perked up in happiness, "It's okay. We did it at last, and that's what matters."

"Yeah, you're right," Seiji agreed with her, "I've been a little stressed out these last few days, that's all. Sorry if I've been looking a little too grim."

"Well, I can understand," Mori responded, before her smile fell, "All this stuff with Jun and Adachi… I just want to keep being in part of this program you know?"

Seiji could understand that, as well. Who wouldn't? All of them had fought to be here, and they were willing to fight again to ensure their future and redemption. Everyone except… Jun Hamada. He couldn't understand why Jun, out of all people who should've been the most willing to betray them and leave the program at any given moment, decided to stay after all this time, yet he did nothing but acted like all of it was an insult. It was like he was mocking him.

Maybe he was thinking too much about this. Kaori was right, perhaps he shouldn't delve too much into Jun and Adachi's relationship, it wasn't like the program was going to crash the second he had a mental breakdown. He was a class rep only to fit the standard classroom titles.

 _"You're a representative of your class, and I am of mine."_

Seiji winced.

" _Let's not make whatever feud you have with your class a feud between us."_

So, what was the problem here? Him being inconsistent, or his so-called 'foil': Jun Hamada. Perhaps, it was his lack of actual power to do anything to change said problem. Whatever it was, it made him feel worthless.

"Hey, am I—" He said under his breath, just enough for Mori to hear, "—a bad class rep?"

It was a question only she could answer, he thought to himself. Being a close friend to Kaori Tsukinose, and a vice president of their class, he felt like he could ask her such questions. Without delving into the context, he just wanted a truthful answer.

"You're not," Mori answered firmly, "That'll be enough of the sappy talk, okay? The black box is right there!"

When he looked forward, he saw both Yato and Date bickering on the top step, arguing about who would take the glass cube off of the black box. Seiji could laugh at the sight, but he seemed to be feeling to numb to do so. He was glad that Mori answered his question, but he felt something was missing.

"Alright, you two," he breathed out in an exasperated tone, the glass cube was already taken away but he reached out to the black box long before the two other males could grab it, "Let's get out of here and—"

 **THOOOM!**

The whole ground shook, but it was only for a mere second before an eruption broke the silence. They all froze on their ground, being on high alert as they warily checked the environment around them.

Nothing, absolutely nothing… well, nothing from _here_.

"Was that…" it was a fearful Mori who said that.

Seiji had a second to think of the possibilities and all of them only lead to one answer, "Oh god… COME ON, SOMEONE COULD BE HURT!"

.

"You know, none of this would've happened if Satou hadn't given them the idea to treat the black box as an _actual_ hostage, right?"

The group consisting of Kaori Tsukinose, Suki Takara, Mika Tatsuya, and Kudou Satou, was trapped behind a large fallen pillar as the incoming waves of robots who kept rolling their wheels towards their hiding ground.

"The better question is: why are we hiding again?" Kaori said aloud, "How did this happen?! We're smarter than this!"

"Fuck you, Princess," Suki Takara practically spat at her, "Surprisingly my 'Mirage' Quirk doesn't work on NON-LIVING THINGS!"

The two of them were sitting with their backs towards the pillar's body, beside them was Mika Tatsuya shooting her laser beam towards the incoming robots who got to close to proximity. Kudou Satou was just there.

"Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha," The robot on the far end corner of the third and final floor laughed monotonously, it was holding the black box under its metal spring-like arms, "You cannot get close to us now, puny humans! Any step closer and the hostage is toast!"

Suki tried to peak above her, trying to get a look of the situation, "Hey, nobody specifically said anything about killing the hostage was losing the points, right?"

"It's a _search and rescue mission_ ," Kaori said it there bluntly, "You don't search and rescue a corpse."

"Well, I'll find a way out, certainly," Suki harrumphed, her nose sticking out in the air, "But why can't you switch places with the black box or something?"

"It doesn't work like that."

"Enlighten me then, oh mighty Tsukinose."

Kaori narrowed her eyes, "The black box is in between the arms of the robot, I cannot switch with something enclosed between space."

"Then switch with the robot!" Suki raised her arms, "Doesn't take a genius."

"I could if they weren't _surrounding us_ and _moving every goddamn second_!" Kaori rubbed the bridge of her nose, "Look, I told Mika to kill the robots till the last of them so I could get a better sight of the thing. That is a big risk since we don't know if it'll destroy the black box before that."

Mika Tatsuya kept blasting her lasers at the robots, before speaking out "I sense the wavelengths of these droids and they are distressed; very likely that they will harm our target in several more minutes."

"Hey, if you're a cyborg, does that mean you're more human due to the lack of your robotic parts or are you more machine due to the lack of your human parts?" Kudou suddenly asked out of the blue.

Kaori clearly did not take it very well, "Kudou, I would be really grateful if you could do something about this mess that you've made."

"Hmmm…" he responded, tapping his chin, "but they look so friendly. I thought I could give them a hint, that's all."

"Alright, so help from him is a no-go," Kaori muttered to herself, before turning to Suki who, after her initial small outburst earlier, was seemingly taking notes of her surroundings, "You seem pretty quiet about all this."

"Suppose I am," Suki replied.

"I don't suppose you have an idea, do you?"

There was pause from her before she answered, "… I do."

Kaori blinked lightly at her, "Alright, we could use that, you know."

"Heh," Suki merely chuckled, "Bold of you to assume I'd help you at all."

That did sound like Suki Takara, Kaori thought to herself. As hurtful as it may be, she realized that she was glad that Suki still has that fiery side inside of her. Kaori hated losing, almost at any situation, and hearing Suki saying that she had a plan almost made her… envious.

Well, she supposed losing once in a while couldn't hurt, "Do your magic, then."

"Oh, I will."

"What are you waiting for?"

She shot a rather smug look at Kaori, "You know what magicians are well known for?"

Kaori took the bite and said "What?"

"Timing—"

Kaori saw her hand reached out towards her knife pouch, taking two blades from it. Watching as Suki did it, Kaori merely sat back and decided to see what she was about to do. Suki then grabbed her top hat, before whispering to Kaori yet again.

"—and diversion."

Suki raised her voice loud enough to echo throughout until the whole third floor could hear it, "LET'S RUN AWAY FROM HERE, GUYS!"

Without a second later, she got into position and threw her hat sideways, letting it spin as far as it could before hitting another, not yet fallen, pillar. At that moment she used the knife that she took from Kaori and threw it to the same direction of her top hat, stabbing it through the top brim and straight towards pillar, embedding it deep within the concrete.

The robots quickly caught the top hat peeking out from behind the pillar, not seeing the blade which embedded the hat to the pillar, and shouted towards their friends, "There they are, friends! The humans have run to that pillar over there! Quickly, we must neutralize them!"

As they all chanted "Neutralize them! Neutralize them!" over and over again, the frontlines were immediately moved away, giving Kaori and her team an opening to get towards the robot who held the black box hostage.

"See you, loser," Suki jeered towards Kaori before jumping out of their hiding spot, quickly speeding towards the robot and black box it was holding. Weirdly, her pupils were glowing purple, even though she said that her Quirk didn't work on non-living things.

Just as Kaori was ready to catch wind, feeling rather odd with the timing of how Suki used her Quirk, she felt something tugging her belt; Suki had impaled the second knife she took from Kaori and embedded it through her belt and towards the pillar.

So that's why Suki was using her Quirk, "Hey! That's cheating!"

"You didn't like that?" Suki shouted back, almost halfway towards the target, "Then how about you come here and say it to my face!"

Taking the blade out of the concrete pillar wasn't difficult, she was freed easily, but when she looked back at Suki who was seemingly speeding towards the robot without stopping, she saw that small smile again, but this time it was seemingly gleaming.

" _Huh,"_ Kaori breathed out, not knowing what to feel, but she knew that she was rather glad seeing it, _"Wait a sec, I'm not going to lose to her!"_

She gripped the handle of the knife and jumped to a crouching position on top of the pillar. She waited, seeing how the robot had finally noticed Suki Takara running towards it with a crazed expression and responded with an equally crazed robotic scream.

"Eh? EEEEEEH?!" The robot signified its shock by rattling its metallic body like it was trembling in fear when its in-built stereo screamed, "FRIEEEENDS! HELP MEEEE!"

"Get back here you little—" Suki gritted her teeth, arms spread wide open, trying to catch the robot in her arms. But the robot proved to be a little too fast when it dodged her catch with the help of its tiny wheel.

"HEEEEEELP! THE TITTY MONSTER HAS TRICKED US!" The robot screamed out, its wheels brought rolling in a zig-zag, "FRIENDS HELP MEEEE—OW!"

Just as it was running away, a spinning blade hits it on the back of its head, bringing it skidding away before falling to a complete stop. The blade ricocheted off of the robot before lingering in the air a bit, and at that moment the blade turned bright and its form changed into that of a teenage girl.

"My, my… you should really not underestimate me," Kaori said as she landed on the ground gently, "It'll be the death of you."

Suki tightened her fist in anger, just as Kaori was coming up towards her, "I'll show you death, you…"

"But," Kaori managed to cut her off, "I'm impressed. That was really cool."

Suki had a pause before responding, "Don't flatter me. It was my win."

"Sure," Kaori had no reason to fight back against that. She wasn't sure what to say, honestly, "I'll let you know when I'm done getting my—"

 **THOOOM!**

The ground shook suddenly, with everyone and everything on the third floor shaking with madness. The robots were screaming in panic, they were twice as scared as the humans were. Every dust and debris tremored, filling their noses with unwanted clogs.

It took only a second before it stopped in a hurry. It didn't feel like an earthquake, it was too quick, but every human there knew better.

"Oh no," Kaori whispered to herself.

"Hamada again?" Suki asked aloud, clicking her tongue. She remembered what had happened last time, and to be honest she wasn't planning to go through it again.

Mika and Kudou then appeared from behind the fallen pillar, with one carrying the other on their back, "I have received distressed calls from the perimeter. Should team disengage from task?"

"Piggyback! Piggyback!" Kudou screamed joyously.

Both Kaori and Suki exchanged glances, before looking at the robot on the floor who was trembling its metallic body uncontrollably before the two of them, "Uyaaaa! D-don't turn me into recyclable trash!"

Before long, Kaori turned heels and walked away, leaving Suki baffled, "Where the hell are you going?"

"Someone is in trouble," She responded, her voice monotonous, "Mika, let's disengage."

Of course, she was the friend of Seiji Orimura. Suki knew better than to try and change her mind. Why should she? She didn't think that going on a suicide mission to go between the human earthquake and whatever the hell he was mad about this time was worth the effort.

" _Let's become heroes together!"_

Suki closer her eyes shut tightly, "Fuck this."

The robot who held the black box merely watched as its opponents ran past the other robots, leaving it by itself as its computing system slowly calmed down. The four of them disappeared out of the floor then the building, right after Suki reached for her dangling hat and threw away the dagger that hung it towards the robot.

"Ugyaaa!" Shouted the robot as the knife landed mere centimeters away from its wheel.

.

Miyu Yakushi held her breath against her throat, everything was buzzing painfully. She couldn't open her eye. Why? She had been through passing out before, through a blunt trauma straight at her crown, and this felt just like it.

"Hey."

Through the pitch black surrounding her senses, she could hear that faint calling. It sounded gruff, almost like sandpaper.

"Yakushi, wake up."

She was trying to. She kept tumbling her body back and forth, yet her strength could merely do so much. She was slowly regaining her senses, so she got that going for her. But how should she address the situation once she woke up.

Wait… exactly _what_ just happened?

"Mmm…" She forced out the air pressed between her lungs. Her vision still blurry, but it wasn't pitch black anymore, "Where am I?"

When she held her buzzing head, she looked up and see a face looming down at her from the dim light. It was Tarasu Kobayashi, no doubt, his face was filled with bruise and dust particles leaving it blue and grey at the same time, but what was he doing on top of her? And why was it so dark?

Suddenly, it hit her, "Oh…"

They were in a giant ball of bones. There were shapes like ribcages and limbs sticking out from everywhere. Light entered from between the gaps, but there were something covering it from the outside as well. Tarasu and Miyu had been survivors thanks to the skeleton girl. In all actuality, Miyu was glad she got lucky when she pulled her teammate close and shielded the both of them just in time before the building fell down on top of them.

Now, she was in a rather awkward position with Kobayashi, as he tried with all his might to not get any part of his bare body touching Miyu's bare body. Now that she thought about it, they were the only one amongst the H.R.I. Class to be lacking any upper clothes. Save for Miyu's extra stick, rip-proof bra.

"Don't get the wrong idea," Miyu said monotonously, blank eyes staring at Tarasu.

"I won't," He reassured her, staring back with an equally blank look through his long greasy bangs.

"Alright, get away," Miyu then reached her hand towards the direction pointing to the opposite direction to Tarasu's back, "This might get messy."

Her finger extended, reaching out bit by bit, and when the skin of it touched the inner surface of the bone cage, it exploded outwards like an egg. Sunlight flooded onto the cage as the sound of breaking and crashing ceased, there must have been a lot of debris covering their safe space.

Tarasu was the first one who got out, his back cracking as the diamonds that made his skeleton straighten him up. Miyu reached out towards the outer side of what left of her cage, and when she peeked her head out, she wasn't expecting this much destruction.

"Well, at least _you_ heeded my warning," Tarasu remarked, looking into the distance.

Miyu nodded in response, taking notes of every corpse of pillars and walls that filled the plethora of debris, some of which still had the shape of a room's corner. So much destruction, and this was all caused by one kid?

"Wait," Her head perked up, "Did you hear that?"

"Yeah…" Tarasu responded, "Sounds like someone got trapped."

There used to be four of them, now there were just two. That means Oboro and Jun was still out there. The two of them wasted no time to get into action, the quickly started looking around the destruction to find anyone worth saving. The place was destroyed in a mess, the foundation that supported it probably lacked any strength which was why the area of destruction spread evenly across the perimeter. Perhaps the reason why was that the school knew that it would get destroyed sooner or later.

Regardless, the place was too big to search everywhere. The two of them remembered how spacious the three-roomed building was, able to hold an entire army of robots and several pillars inside them. If someone had gotten trapped when it fell down, none of them wanted to think about how it felt like.

A second later, Tarasu heard gasping and choked out tears from near him, and when he approached it, he was met with a familiar gaze, trapped under two layers of floors on top of it.

"Hamada?" He spoke out, recognizing the look on the boy's face through the gap between the fallen floors and the rest of the building that surrounded him, "Shit. Hamada, that you?!"

The boy didn't answer, he was trapped and Tarasu could guess that. However little did he know that it _was_ Jun Hamada trapped under all that rubble, and thanks to the pillar that fell beside him he was given enough space for his small body to escape the weight of the floor that fell on top of him.

Now, he was lying on his sides, wary if the world would crush down on him at any given second.

He couldn't breathe. Of course, he couldn't. Cardiac tamponade; he had heard that before: the thing that happens when he imbued his damn heart with his Quirk. His ribcage felt even more cramped than before, and he had thought that he had survived.

Why… Why did this happen again? He was sure he'd survive again. He wasn't done. Not yet. Not now. He got his damn chance, so what the fuck did he do wrong?

It was them wasn't it? It was because they held him back? Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!

Now what, then? He wanted to give someone a punch, he wanted to hit something, he wanted to feel _strong_. This wasn't his fault, they made him this way. No, no, no, n—

"A… a-ah…" A sudden sting of pain, he looked down and saw both his legs disappearing in the darkness. The floors were falling down on him, "… Ah?!"

Tarasu, as he stood above him, saw and heard one of the floor creaking, crushing the short boy little by little. In a heartbeat, he tried reaching down and block the fallen debris by imbuing his diamond to support the roof of wherever Jun was trapped in.

"Holy shit," Tarasu cursed to himself, scrambling to fill out whatever creak the floors made with his diamonds, "Holy shit."

It was pointless, one the floor that landed on top of Jun was too brittle and any wrong move could mean death for him since there were two of them. It was bigger than the both of them yet it was going to break at any minute. Tarasu's planned on filling the innards of the space with diamond but if it was too instantaneous, it might kill Jun instead. If he tried to support either side of the floor, it would break under its own weight.

" _We both want nothing more than to become heroes…"_

He was an assassin, not a search and rescue officer. How the hell was he supposed to save Jun?

" _So, I need you to convince Jun to stay…"_

He put both his hands on the gap between the fallen floor and the entirety of the debris-filled ground, it looked like the least brittle part of it so he tried to pry it open with all his might.

" _I know how it irritates you to see such a stumbling-block bring us down…"_

He pried and pried with no avail, he could hear the sound of a boy whimpering from deep inside.

" _Which is why I know you can convince him better than anyone else…"_

He screamed on top of his lungs, trying to gain any attention of any passerby, perhaps Miyu would come to his aid wherever she was.

" _Teach him to be as opportunistic as you…"_

The floor was tumbling down. He used his Quirk to support what he could to keep it up.

" _Teach…"_

It was too hasty, there was nothing he could do from the start. The floor was still crushing Jun under it.

" _Teach…"_

Tarasu could slowly hear a pained grunt from under him. Was he going to lose this one, too? Was he going to fail to save Jun Hamada?

Then, a pair of hands went up beside him, pulling the floor upwards, "KEEP IT TOGETHER, TARASU!"

It was Seiji Orimura, in the flesh, he was biting his bottom lip trying to support the floor upwards as well. Tarasu almost let himself drift away, when he snapped, he too began pulling upwards with all his strength.

"It's no use!" Tarasu shouted back after what felt like an eternity, "It's going to break inwards anyway!"

"Fuck!" Seiji screamed out, it wasn't like him to do so, "Keep it up! Come on, Kobayashi!"

" _Think, Kobayashi, what would mom and dad do at this situation?!"_ His eyes wondered back and forth, trying to find anything— _anything—_ that could help him.

Elsewhere, another person was also struggling through the pain. Miyu came up to the person just in time to begin helping him.

"Oh, my god," She gasped, looking at Oboro Kirikagure after several painful seconds of searching, "Fuck. That's gotta hurt."

He was trapped, but only his legs, he seemed to have unfortunately tried to run back down the stairs when the floors collapsed. He was struggling, sitting behind a giant piece of debris who had just missed his entire body, another debris was still trapping his legs as he sat on top of what seemed to be what left of the stairs. His face was filled with dust, and his eyes watering in pain.

"YOU THINK?!" He screamed out in pain, head slowly moving back and forth, "FUCK! FUCK!"

Miyu almost panicked, seeing how the blood gashed out of the wound of the bone fracture caused by the weight of the debris, "Alright, alright, I'll help. Just… oh my god… how the fuck do I do that?!"

She moved positions, getting up towards him and tried to pull him out of the crushing space. There seemed to be quite the gap in between, perhaps he could just pull him out gently—

"AAAAARGH!" Oboro screamed out in pain, more blood was gushing out, his head bobbing back and forth.

There… it was right there that Miyu started to feel panicked. She felt another grip on her knuckles that held the underside of Oboro's arms. It was his hand, it was trembling, he was in a lot of pain.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry," Miyu didn't know what to do. She was absolutely lost, "Oh my god… oh my god…"

She could see Oboro holding back a sniffle, it broke her heart, making her whole body suddenly cold as ice. He was a strong boy, that's for sure, but she couldn't say the same about herself when she was watching this mess.

Then, there were footsteps coming towards her, before a scream broke her out of her trance, "Oh gosh… MIYU!"

Mori Kururugi… Miyu could see her face contorting in the same fear that she had The wolf girl came up to her and placed her hands right above her own.

"Alright, calm down, calm down," Mori tried to say, but all Miyu could hear was a trembling madness, "Gently let him go. Gently…"

Miyu complied, then she placed Oboro back where she had tried to yank him out, saying "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," over and over again.

Oboro let out a final grunt as he was placed down one last time, "Hngh… I can't see… my eyes are dusty… is it really that fucking bad?"

"You're fine," Mori tried to assure him, "We'll get someone to help."

"No," Oboro suddenly snapped, "No. No. Hamada. Where is he?"

Miyu's lips trembled hearing it, "I-I don't know… Kobayashi is searching for him right now."

Every second, she could feel her legs, her arms, even her fingers, trembling uncontrollably. Her skin turned as cold as ice, goosebumps all over her body. She could feel herself slowly losing her sanity.

Hamada? Jun Hamada? Why was she looking for him? Him? He was hurt. Hurt? Yes, hurt. Very badly. She made the hurt go worse. Yes, it got worse, because of her. Because of her. Her…

Her pupils dilated, heart hammering against her chest, and before she knew it… she vomited.

"Miyu!" Mori shouted out in shock, going to Miyu's side as she pulled away out of the sight, "Miyu… breathe… breathe…"

"Why…" Miyu spoke out, finally. Her voice was still croaky and her throat dry, "Why is this happening?!"

Mori placed a steady hand on her trembling body, her bare shoulders were cold. The wolf girl only stared at her in pity, her tufty ears falling sideways, even her tail was silent and unmoving.

She seemed to be less distressed with the situation than Miyu was, perhaps because she had been learning how to cope with hopelessness from a long time ago. Then again, this was a situation she had not been trained to deal with. Whatever chance she had at finding the solution was just as good as her skeletal friend.

A second later, another group joined the hysteria. Kaori took not a second to switch her way through the aftermath. She saw what had happened and it was just as worse as what she had seen at the Battle Trial. It churned her stomach to see the destruction again, and remembering what had happened last time, she wasn't going to take any chances.

She quickly grouped up with another team that had been there earlier, and what she had found was not what she had hoped for; it was what she had feared the most.

"JUN IS IN THERE?!" She shouted in disbelief.

"Yes! Stop shouting, we're trying to think of a plan!" Date Takehiro shouted back, he was one of the people who volunteered to keep the level of the floor up, "Tsukinose if you could just switch with this thing… it would be great!"

"I…" As much as she hated to say it, she couldn't keep it for herself, "I-I can't…"

"Excuse me?" Yato Shimura said aloud, almost sounding irritated. He was keeping the floor upwards by supporting any space with thousands of tiny mercury pillars.

"It would only make the situation worse," Suki Takara said as she finally got to the scene, "Look. The floors are very brittle, they have cracks through them already. If she tried to switch with one of them, it'll be like misplacing a block on Jenga."

She seemed to have learned about Kaori's weaknesses from their battle with the robots earlier. Too many to switch with and everything keeps moving around.

"Fuck that!" Date barked, "Look, we don't have many options, okay?! That's just a what-if situation! Tsukinose, switch with the top floor and—"

"I can't!" Kaori shouted back, "Look at it! It's not stable! The cracks are misplaced between them, he's… Jun's trapped between several different debris altogether, not just two floors!"

"Then, what the fuck do we do?!" Yato said, almost starting to get panicky.

"We fucking follow my damn plan!" Date barked yet again, this time louder, "Tsukinose, use your fucking Quirk, now!"

"No, you imbecile, didn't you hear what she said?!" Suki fought back, "It'll just go down on him otherwise. It's too risky!"

"We need to do something!"

Tarasu was on his edge as he listened to his classmates shouting at each other. All this time he was concentrating on whether or not he could do something as well.

" _Think, Tarasu! Think!"_ The greasy-haired boy shouted to himself inside his mind, he could feel with every strain of his muscle a sweat trickled down his neck, _"Can you make Tsukinose switch with Jun then have her switch with a rock to get out?! No, we don't know how big the space is down there, she could be having it worse if she switched places with Jun! What if I make Satou freeze time and get Hamada out when the rocks were steady in place? No, the gap is too small to squeeze Hamada through! FUCK! NOW WHAT?! Should we try that risk?! Should we try having Tsukinose switch with the rocks one by one?! Takara was right, this fucking rubble is like Jenga: one wrong move and everything goes down!"_

So, what was he supposed to do now? What could any of them do now? Tarasu didn't believe in miracles, nor had he believed if there was some kind of higher power, but he was pondering whether or not he should pray because he felt like letting go of his grip.

" _FUCK NO!"_ Tarasu shouted to himself yet again, _"No! No! Like hell I'm gonna sink that deep!"_

He was an opportunistic person, not some kind of religious bimbo who believed in luck. He wasn't going to pray even if it meant his life. All of his struggles paid off because he went through them himself. He turned his fate with his own hands, not because of some luck.

" _All of it comes from within…"_ Tarasu kept reminding himself over and over again… until his train of thoughts stopped… _"Within… within… it comes from within…"_

"THAT'S IT!" He shouted out on top of his lungs, shocking everyone in vicinity with his sudden outburst. Without wasting a second, Tarasu reared down and tried to communicate with the boy trapped between rubbles, "HAMADA! HAMADA LISTEN TO ME! I NEED YOU TO PUNCH YOUR WAY OUT FROM THE INSIDE!"

Jun, as he also hopelessly tried to wriggle his way out to any space when the rubble slowly descended upon him, heard the call. But when he looked down to his arms—his broken, trembling, and stinging arms—he knew it was pointless.

"Ah…" He couldn't speak, his chest was still under pressure, but he still forced the word out of his throat, "M-my arms… I can't…"

"What did he say?!" Seiji asked aloud, also gritting his teeth as he pushed the rubble up with all his effort, "What happened to his arms?!"

"Fuck!" Tarasu cursed, "He used up his Quirk earlier!"

"We have no other choice!" Seiji pressed, before rearing down as well, "Jun, it depends on you now!"

"I…" Jun couldn't do it, he couldn't bear the pain in his arms, "I-I… It hurts…"

"IT'LL HURT A LOT MORE IF YOU DO NOTHING!" Seiji screamed out, trying to put his role into action, perhaps getting a few inches up to give some space for his trapped classmate.

"Jun, you can do it!" Kaori shouted out as well, rearing down towards the gap, "Your… your Quirk gives off vibrations, right?! Can you… can you redirect it out of your arms?! A spontaneous contact, Jun!"

"What she meant was…" Date cuts in, "HURRY UP, YOU PIECE OF SHIT!"

Mika's voice beeped out, "The rubble is getting more unstable- _desu_ ~"

Jun's breathing fastened, he could see the roof collapsing at any minute. He heard cracking noises, until he saw that the floor was getting split in half; the pieces were going to spill on him one by one.

That was until a crack on the center loosened without any warning, the weight distributed right to where his chest was. The rubble moved, the weight moved, everything moved. Everyone who held it together could feel that it was beginning to spill to the middle, like how a piece of weight pushed through a flat roof, creating a sharp crack that pointed downwards.

Jun could feel the crack at the side of his torso, almost like it was going to tear him apart, "HNGH! NH! NHA! AAAH! NHA!"

He couldn't scream, his chest was too heavy to let out any air. He was going to die silenced.

The rest could feel the rising tension when the sound of the crack echoed throughout the perimeter; it was going to fall to the middle and crush Jun from the chest first. Then, the screaming started.

"NO!"

So many screams.

"JUN!"

So little changes.

"GAH!"

Nothing changed.

"IT'S GOING TO FALL!"

Nothing…

"FUCK!"

Changed…

 **RUMBLE… RUMBLE… DOOOOO…**

The floor lifted upwards by itself, and everyone else surrounding it could only watch in shock and did nothing. Everywhere they stood, it was as if the giant rubbles and debris was starting to float, but they could only see that only the floors that was crushing down Jun were being lifted upwards by some unknown force.

They all backed away, unable to comprehend what the hell was happening. Then, they saw a figure of a boy covered in dust and blood lying on his sides under where the giant rubble used to crush him down.

"Shit," Tarasu gritted his teeth, going in for the boy without a second of hesitation. However, he was still baffled with how the situation turned out, "You gotta be fucking kidding me."

Kaori was there beside him too, tending to Jun just like how they did at the Battle Trial, "Thank god."

"No," Tarasu spoke out, "Don't feel good just yet."

Jun was slowly picking himself up as they got to him, but he was falling on his arms with a loud pained scream.

"How's your arm, boy?" Tarasu said, helping him get up.

As he was lifted under the arm, both Tarasu and Kaori could see his lips trembling, "Let… go…"

Tarasu had no time nor the composure to respond, he then saw a silhouette descending down from the sky. Everyone else saw it too; a giant boulder of rock slowly landing in front of them as the piece of rubble that almost crushed Jun floated away from sight. When golden hair reflected the sunlight and glimmered brightly, they all knew who it was.

"Alright, that is enough for today, children," Sun Wukong's voice echoed, but it sounded rather ominous, "I am surprised. have never seen… such dysfunctional class."

Little did the children know, that Sun Wukong's Quirk could lift earth minerals like concrete and asphalt like how a telekinetic lifted an object. That was what made him the 'Hero of the Mountains' as it referred to him moving actual mountains in China.

As much as his reputation went, he was still a Pro Hero, and now, as a teacher, the children could see fury in his eyes as his boulder landed on the perimeter with a thump. Adachi Hisaki was with him, standing behind the Chinese Number 1 Hero with an expression they all had never seen him make.

He leveled above them with his thick golden eyebrows furrowed, "Can anyone tell me… HOW ONE SIMPLE LESSON WENT TO AN ABSOLUTE DISASTER?!"

His monkey form gave him a large body, and an equally large vocal cord.

"TWO PEOPLE ALMOST DIED TODAY, AND THE REST OF YOU ARE JUST SCRAMBLING AROUND SCREAMING AT EACH OTHER WITHOUT DOING ANY GOOD TO THE VICTIMS!" Then, he pointed to the distance with his hairy hands, "NOT TO MENTION THAT YOU HAVE ALL FORGOTTEN ABOUT ONE OF THEM!"

They all turned to where he pointed, and saw Oboro, Miyu, and Mori, all looking down in the dumps. Oboro was being carried on the arms of a very large robot, possibly for situations like these, and his leg was a mess. Both of them.

The two groups exchanged the same glance of hopelessness. None of them said anything to each other.

Sun Wukong took another breath, before pointing to another student, "You! The one with machines strapped to your body!"

They all turned to Mika, whose eyes enlarged in mild surprise, "M-me? Sir?"

"I've read your file, you could've welded the concrete on top the victim together so that _she_ —" he pointed to Kaori, "—could easily switched with it without fearing with any of the pieces falling! And you!"

This time, Date was the one he referred to.

"With your Quirk you could've easily saved your other friend, could you not?!" Sun Wukong harshly barked at him, "Yet you choose to bawl with everyone else, screaming at each other!"

Date obviously couldn't just sit around being insulted, "Why… you…" but he was stopped by Seiji who happened to be standing beside him.

When Date glanced at him, he saw that the Seiji there was gone… his eyes were dead and blank. Surely, he was the one who felt the most responsible for this whole situation.

"And… _you_ …" Lastly, he finally pointed to Jun Hamada, "I expected more from you with your power, but I've been proven that you lacked the most out of everyone here. You are very short-tempered, very unstable, and _unfit to become a hero_ if you keep this attitude of yours…"

They all stood there in silent, hanging their heads in shame, some even in shock from remembering what had just happened. Then, cleaning robots began gathering into the scene, picking up rubbles and any corpse of their dead friends from the scene.

"Now then," Sun Wukong continued, "I expect nothing more from you but to go to your dorms for the rest of the day. Anyone wounded will be taken to the school nurse. I hope I have made myself clear; let's not make this a habit. I will see you all tomorrow."

Just as the boulder began to lift itself up, Jun Hamada screamed out into the air, "W-WAIT!"

His voice sounded raspy, almost full of dust, like he was gargling on nothing. He pushed himself off of Tarasu Kobayashi and tried his best to run forward and approach the flying boulder, only to fall to his knees before the two teachers.

"Adachi…" He gasped, still feeling his lungs heavier than a block of steel, "Adachi… I…"

Everyone watched, from him then to Adachi, who merely gave him some darkened stare.

"… I thought…" Jun started, looking up from where he kneeled with a rather determined expression, "I thought you…you fucking p-promised!"

"It never seemed like you needed me, Jun," Adachi responded coldly, "I really hope you'll do better."

"What… THE FUCK… are you saying?!" His shout was painful to hear, almost like every voice he let out was scratching against his throat, "You… SAID… YOU… Ah… you… why?"

"Because there's nothing for me to do anymore," Adachi sounded like he was holding back a laugh, "Like there's anything I could do… for you, at least…"

"But…" Jun's voice croaked, "You promised…"

"That I did," Adachi simply responded, "but it wouldn't change anything, Jun."

"I CAN STILL—"

"JUN HAMADA," Adachi's outburst brought everyone standing on the very edge, "THERE IS NOTHING… NOTHING… THAT I CAN DO FOR YOU ANYMORE!"

They could see it; Adachi's face contorting in fury, turning red at every breath, this was the only time they had seen him this angry.

"I… AM NOT… YOUR FATHER, JUN!" Adachi shouted again, "… and you're not my son!"

They all turned to Jun, waiting for him to shout back… but he didn't. He merely sat there, staring at the sky, not doing anything. There was only silence coming from him, not even a budge or an attempt to fight.

The boulder flew away, with Adachi and Sun Wukong on board. The kids got their instructions clear, and never wanted to have anything to do with today ever again.

But there was one who looked back, to the boy in brunette hair, still sitting in the middle of it all, and pondered… "Did I save him too late again?"

Kaori Tsukinose couldn't even answer her own question. Hearing that from Adachi was clear enough for her—for all the H.R.I students—that the future was clear: there weren't going to be any Hisaki Adachi ever again.

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 **... NEW CHAPTER**

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 **... NEW CHAPTER**

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 **I don't know what's more painful: writing this, or finding the time to write this. It was good that it's December, I've got a lot of time to write and I went ahead and write this one since I've already got the whole arc planned. But goddamn I should've thought that vacation time meant an actual _vacation time_... **

**My family came to visit this past few weeks and we got to do a lot of things together. Of course, being the awesome eldest kid I am, I planned on having fun with them while doing this moderately, too. But, of course, a lot of things happened in the course of a few weeks and I always fucking find myself napping out my restlessness. And I was soooo excited to write this chapter, too! This was one of the hypest shit I get to write because we got some character drama, a brand new turning point, some great dialogues... and there goes the second problem...**

 **Writing this I realized... I didn't really liked how it turned out. I never said that it was a shit chapter, but from what I planned on writing in my head came differently in this one because of several chapters: I had to write several things differently because the previous chapter differed a lot from my drawing board, I needed to make it consistent with the plot and characterizations and lemme be honest with you... I fucking hated last chapter. I'm gonna edit that one before I update again. The second factor is that... I think too much. This fanfic was too ambitious and I keep asking myself "Does this scene make sense?" or "Would this character say this?" or even "How the fuck do I interlink the character's personality with the plot?!" It was painful, to say the least. I keep thinking and thinking about all the useless trivial things and suddenly THIS SHIT IS 20K words!**

 **I guess that is the problem with having established worlds: you just have to fit everything with it. I didn't want this fic to become a fatalist so my OCD kicked up to the max and started pushing my buttons. However... I would be lying if I didn't say I get to have fun writing this. It was a whole lot of fun at some scenes, and I finally get to BULLY JUN!**

 **That aside, next is the problem with sexual implications. At the start of the series I asked GiintokiSakata: "Hey, can I add sexual innuendos and references?" and he said "Sure fam lol no prob", and I kept to my word ever since. If something seemed to go too far I apologize, I will try to edit that out. Just to make things clear: that scene (yes, THAT scene) is not meant to imply any sexual references. I will only make childish jokes about boobs and asses, sometimes thighs, and only then is where I put the line (well, of course, there are SOME implied sex jokes but they're just that, I won't be showing any actual sex scenes... that goes in a different fanfic).**

 **Alright... where was I?**

 **Right, I will edit last chapter, thank you so much for the feedback these last few updates. Although, the lack of reviews made me sad. I don't know, maybe I'll work on my Webtoon first? Hope you like today's chapter.**

 **That'll be all, I guess. Thank you, good bye.**

 **...**

 **One last thing...**

 **Today's prompt: is it weird that when you go kayaking and almost drown, your last thoughts were "OH SHIT I HAVEN'T FINISHED MY NEW CHAPTER!"? Asking for a friend.**

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 **Something happened to Class-1A?! What could it be?! And why is everyone blaming us because of it?!**

 **Jun is not himself today... Kaori is not sure if he'll be himself again tomorrow. Can she do something to help him?**

 **A lot of angsty drama coming right up, next time, on My Hero Academia : Delinquents Class!**

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 **R &R**


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